Death Knell
by Flyer
Summary: It doesn't always end when you die. Chloe knows.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Death Knell

Rating: Let's just say I can't guarantee PG-13, so let's go with a rating of R to be on the safe side.

Category: Angst

Summary: It doesn't always end when you die. Chloe knows.

Spoilers: I judiciously take from all seasons, so, yeah, there will probably be some.

Disclaimer: Don't own.

**Prologue**

As she lay on the gurney and emergency response personnel worked on her prone form, Chloe's life passed before her eyes. Every good thing. Every bad thing. Failures. Triumphs. Weaknesses. Strengths. A lifetime in the span of a heart beat. It was a stream of consciousness that persisted in tormenting her. Chloe figured that she wouldn't be lucid, but amazingly she was. Every yell of the paramedic, every jostle of the gurney, and rapid turn of the ambulance was registered by her laboring mind. Despite this awareness, this maddening lucidity, it all came from a distance through a haze of undefined pains that did not originate from a localized point. It was spread all over her and there was no relief.

Looking back over the life choices that got her to this particular spot, Chloe faced the fact that there were many factors in this equation. Her mind would flit on one, and as soon as it came, she would know that it wasn't what her mind was searching for. It kept going further back. It wasn't this particular investigation. It wasn't Lex's abrupt descent into the world of his father's methodology. It wasn't even when first knew Clark's secret. She briefly considered that maybe it was when her mother left. Just as quickly, she discarded the thought. Her mind kept tracing it back to some arbitrary point; or maybe it wasn't arbitrary. Maybe it was just going back to the very beginning.

Then she found it. There was only one true conclusion. It was simply a part of her. There was no one determining event. The straw did break the camel's back, but only after a million and one burdens had been placed upon it. It was a series of choices and events that cascaded to this one point. Chloe knew that even if one of those things had not occurred, she'd still be in this place… pursuing her passion and suffering the consequences.

Chloe realized that she was dying. The darkness found purchase and wouldn't let go. She was afraid. No matter how many near death experiences she'd read about or how many close calls she'd had, she never truly believed that she would die so soon. She never thought it would happen to her because no one ever thought that. Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow you may die was a precept that was present in all religions. Of course, some religions urged some form of moral fortitude in their basic motto, but the concept of live today because tomorrow wasn't guaranteed was universal. But even though the concept permeated their lives, no one truly believed that they would not see the next day.

Her heart sped up, her breath hitched, and her body seized. She couldn't tell if it was panic or because the end was unmistakably close. Something let loose in her and she felt her bowels release. This was dying, she knew, and dying was rarely ever a pretty thing full of nobility. The person could handle it well and be okay with their end, but the body was a whole other issue. It had its way of signaling the end and letting go. It was what Chloe was experiencing now.

Death was primal. It was the very end. The goal of life. Even as proud parents celebrate the moment of breath, in their heart they fear. They fear that their care won't be enough that some random occurrence could come along and deny them the life of their child; either in taking their own or their child's. It was the terror that trumped every other terror in an individual. Death had its own rhythms. Its own rituals. This was it.

Those people who write and write about their near death experience talk about the fabled white light. They talk about a vaguely welcoming feeling. They didn't talk about this part. The part when your heart stops beating but you're still aware. The part when you can see the veiled fear and frustration in the eyes of the people who are trying so hard to save your life. They don't write about seeing your death reflected in the face above you working so diligently to preserve your life.

It was the haunted and mesmerized look in the eyes of the veteran paramedic that caused her panic now. This was truly the end. The machine next to her flat-lined and she couldn't breathe. She could no longer feel the ambulance moving, nor could she hear the sirens. The lights blanked and Chloe Sullivan expended her last breath.

********

It was a disjointed threnody that coursed through her. A forbidding darkness in which there was awareness of that one thing. She still didn't see the white light or the welcoming presence. The threnody continued but it was punctuated by hard jolts to her body. Chloe felt her body jerk.

With each jolt, a wave of pain passed through her and more awareness came. She had been in her car, speeding towards somewhere that would be safe. Somewhere with lots of people and lights. A place that would be too inconvenient to hurt her and where she could call for help. What she had seen and stolen was too important to not pass on to Oliver.

Her heart shuddered to a steady rhythm and Chloe was forced to wakefulness. She tried to move and found that she couldn't. The rapid-fire jargon of doctors and paramedics rang out clear around her. From the corner of her eye, she saw the veteran paramedic that had treated her in the ambulance. An almost imperceptible sigh swept through his form.

The weird threnody that played as she was dead, because she knew she had been dead, played again. From the corner of her eye, Chloe saw a mist that seemed to coalesce. The doctors were still wheeling her and working on her body all the while shouting words that made no sense to her.

_"Is this recovery? Is this what's supposed to happen?"_ Of course, those weren't fully formed questions. They were simply vague feelings that conveyed meaning that she instinctually knew. After this, Chloe would write her own book. A book that didn't sugar coat the experience in favor of some fluffy recitation that played into the archetypical experience.

Chloe wanted to sleep again; but the constant motion of the gurney, the brilliant lights, the poking and prodding of the doctors prevented her from finding solace in unconsciousness. She was only peripherally aware of the fact that not much time had elapsed. It felt like hours, but it wasn't. It couldn't be. She still saw the same doctor; but it didn't particularly matter. Chloe felt herself drift off into true sleep.

There was a slight fear that maybe she wouldn't wake up, but there was something different about her now. She felt something coil and writhe within and couldn't understand what it could possibly be. Chloe just felt something inside of her. A living thing that seemed to be waiting for some kind of cue…some signal that meant it could be free. It scared her more than her death and more than the prospect of sleeping and never awakening again.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Don't own.

**Chapter 1**

Her room smelled like all other hospital rooms. Held within these walls was the despair of family members; some of their hope, sorrow, and joy. The beeping, that signified she was alive and well for someone in her condition, pushed its staccato beat into the otherwise silent room. It was stark and jarring, but it meant that she was alive. It was dark in her room, well passed the hour she could have visitors, but it was the only way to see her. He had patiently waited until everyone else had their fill of staring at her unmoving frame and projecting all their hope and longing onto her.

He glanced around the hall. The nurses knew not to disturb him. It was a perk of buying the children's ward all new equipment, for annually raising funds. He was king and Metropolis was his city-state. He treated her well and he demanded she give him his due. Tonight, it came in the form of enforcing the rules for everyone else save him. Stopping his casual perusal of the hallway, he returned his attention to the figure that had been so close to death. _"Even now you defy me."_The accident had left its mark in a myriad of ways on her. He had to admit that it was all that she deserved.

Lex Luthor sauntered into the room. _Her_room. He gently took her hand in his own. Caressing it, he felt both her frailty and her strength. The pulse that beat strongly under her skin. His touch was feather light. It was a gentle stroke that quickened the pulse of numerous other women and served as a clear indication of his intent. To screw. To fuck. To hear his name on their lips. He dragged a chair closer to her bed and sat down. It was a trick to make oneself comfortable in the silly chairs hospitals provided, but one that he had learned from necessity.

Once again, Lex took her hand into his, contemplating his current situation. Chloe had wreaked havoc at his facility. His IT and lab techs all said that everything was there and that they couldn't be sure what she had done, which threw everything off-kilter. On one hand, it would've been so much easier to investigate what she had done if she'd died in the crash. On the other, he had no idea what kind of plans she made in the event of her death, so he couldn't even end her in the hospital.

Lex laid her hand back onto the bed and drummed his fingers on the lowered railing. He added his voice to rhythmic sounds of the machines in her room, "What can I do with you, Chloe? Kill you or not, you are decidedly an issue."

She was the only variable that he hadn't, couldn't work out to his satisfaction. Her new cohort, Oliver, would be an issue. Lex didn't exactly know their relationship, but he knew that something more was happening between them. It would not surprise him in the least if she had done this on his behest. If Oliver had not given her a graceless push into his activities. It really didn't matter in the end.

_"Oh, Chloe. You are far too smart to let Oliver call the shots."_

Oliver had some delicate dealings on the horizon and it would not be difficult to make those deals fall through. In fact, he would enjoy it. It would be enough to divide his attention between his work and Chloe. Oliver wouldn't be able to resist the competition. His ego wouldn't allow it. Oliver's acquisitions were as good as dead and his failure would push him into doing stupid things. Lex had seen it before.

Oliver fancied himself a player in the business world; and to some extent, he was correct. But Oliver could never consistently do the things necessary to truly elevate himself; and when he did attempt it, he fell into a dark place after. A place of vice. Of booze and self-loathing. All he needed was a violent heave from his old school chum, Lex Luthor. _"Something I am all too willing to provide."_Even if Oliver, somehow, won this little, meaningless test, he would be in no position to help Chloe. It would be too late.

Of course, there was always the chance that Oliver would choose Chloe and her knowledge over whatever business dealings he had; but he would lose face in the business world as a consequence. Lex didn't believe Oliver had the will to endure such a humiliation. And when it happened, there Lex would be. Crowing to the world. Revealing that he was behind Oliver's tumble. It would taste better than a woman. This is what he was made for. The thrill of the hunt, of conquering his foe. Lex felt his blood quicken and smiled into the room. _"You have always been worthy, Chloe."_

It left only Clark and his special, snowflake brand of idiocy. Lex shrugged his shoulders and flicked non-existent lint from his breast pocket. It would be no small problem to unleash some of his 33.1 subjects onto Smallville. The ones he had in mind were violent and so far gone that they no longer had the ability to find their way back from their madness. Clark would have his hands full.

He would set free psychotics with super-human strength, agility, impenetrable skin, the list was truly extensive, and all of them knowing two things: green meteor rock would stop the one responsible for their torment and that Clark Kent was the one responsible. It would weaken the one who would seek to destroy them. Lex would enjoy watching Clark fight them. He had no doubt that Clark would somehow see his way out of true harm; but once again, it would be too late for him to help Chloe. The rest of Chloe's inner circle were inconsequential. Her cousin could be killed and so could Gabe. _"Easy."_

Taking her hand into his once more, holding it gently, he stood and leaned over the bed. His lips next to her ear. His voice a soft, lover's caress, "I will enjoy this contest, Chloe."

Lex drew his lips across her forehead. A touch of intent. A tremor passed through her hand. He smiled down at her. Of course she would accept his challenge. He expected nothing less.

Lex Luthor left the room. His gait one of merriment and purpose. He would succeed where no other had. It was only a matter of time.

* * *

The next day saw Gabe sitting at his daughter's bedside. It was a Saturday so he didn't have to work. He thought that he had done right by her. He may not have been the most attentive father and he knew that there were times when he simply couldn't understand her; but he thought that his loving her would be enough. That the hole her mother left would eventually be closed. Gabe knew that he hadn't taken her seriously enough at times, and he regretted it.

He didn't blame himself for the crash, nor for the person she had become because that person was a good one. He just wished the things that everyone in his situation had wished and would wish for. Gabe wanted her to know and understand that he had tried his best and that he was sorry for any failings. He wanted her to open her eyes and smile and tell him it was okay. He didn't want his baby girl to die not hearing those words from him. Most of all he wanted his little girl back.

Gabe put his head in his hands and fisted his hands. The momentary pain of pulling his hair was worth it to not feel numb. The best of him was lying in a hospital bed. It was in a coma and unaware. It was alone and in darkness. That part of him wouldn't come back until she did. Idle conversation from the nurses meant that he knew she had died three times. Once in the ambulance and twice on the operating table. Gabe had no idea how many she had left. She kept that part of herself hidden from everyone and he was no exception.

His voice was broken, "God, Chloe, what more can I do?"

Without a doubt, Gabe knew that he was stretched thin.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw that it was Lois. Gabe was happy to see her. He knew that Lois loved Chloe as a sister. Truth be told, he needed his family. This was something he couldn't handle alone. Gabe needed someone else to share in his misery. He wasn't strong enough or selfless enough to do it alone.

Clark Kent stood behind her. There were nuances in Chloe's relationship with Clark that he would never understand; but he did know one thing: he was the root cause of so much of her turmoil. While he couldn't let her off the hook for her own decisions, he could place the blame where it also rested. It was the domain of children to be callous. Their parents and society tempered it and, in most cases, made them worthwhile human beings.

They cast off the base and heathen desires of youth and entered the world. But Clark Kent wore righteous and privileged indignation like a second skin. In this, he was exactly like Lex Luthor. Two people that, for some reason, inspired loyalty in others. Inspired them to do what they wouldn't normally. Sometimes for the better, many times not.

Gabe knew people. He read them well. Chloe didn't develop and adopt mannerisms and thoughts in a vacuum. He taught her to be aware because, deep down inside, Gabe thought that if he had seen Moira for who she was, then the heartaches that followed could have been prevented. That woman took a part of him when she left, but she gave up the best of them both. He didn't need to know her reasons because they didn't matter. Moira didn't talk to him. She didn't let him try to fix them and so would never have his understanding.

He was understandably less warm when Clark entered the room. Gabe knew that he visited daily, but it didn't matter. If Chloe had not held him in such regard, he would've asked Clark to leave long ago. Clark seemed to understand that the regard Gabe had once held for him had lessened considerably with time.

Lois' practically whispered when she spoke to Gabe. He had to strain to hear her. This would be one of the few circumstances that this would happen. "How is she?"

Clark knew that Chloe's healing should've kicked in by now. Something else was wrong and he didn't understand why she was in a coma now. _"She should be better now."_Although, that would've also caused problems. Her car was too smashed for her to walk away unscathed from it. It was a blessing and a curse that she was now in her current state.

Gabe sighed. "She's in a coma and won't wake up until her body feels ready, which could be today, tomorrow, or a year from now. She has brain function and she doesn't need a ventilator. She's just…in a coma."

He took her hand into his own and felt her warmth. Gabe closed his eye and rested his forehead where their hands clasped. He wanted to feel her, but it he was distracted by Lois and Clark.

"She's strong, Uncle Gabe. Chloe won't let this take her," Lois' voice ended on a tremor. She hated it. Chloe wasn't the only person in the room who loathed showing their weaknesses.

Lois gestured at a chair that sat against the wall under the television. Clark finally got the message and brought it over to her. She sat down and threw her arms around Gabe. He didn't move or otherwise acknowledge her; but she knew by the slight easing of the tension in his shoulders that he appreciated her.

Gabe lifted his head and looked into Lois' eyes. She saw the man who could stare down other managers and important people to get the necessary results for companies like Luthorcorp. She saw the businessman and not the affable uncle she had known growing up. He swung his gaze away from hers to Clark's and Lois let out a soft sigh of relief. She didn't know that man and didn't want to.

There was strength in him that everyone underestimated, "Do you know what she was doing?"

Clark took a deep breath and prepared to lie to his best friend's father. "No, Mr. Sullivan. She said she had an errand to run and that was it."

Gabe's jaw tightened. He lowered his little girl's hand and shook off Lois. He walked to Clark and didn't stop until he invaded the younger man's personal space.

His voice was low, dangerous, and calm. It was tempered steel, "She's my daughter, Clark. My only child. And if I find out that you're lying, I promise that no matter what I have to do, you and Oliver will regret it. This reeks of something Luthor-related. Nothing short of that would've led to this and nothing short of one of you asking her to do this would've caused this. Leave. I don't want you here today."

Gabe held his stare a moment longer, deliberately turned his back on Clark, and resumed his bedside vigil. Clark knew that Gabe was serious. It was then that he realized that everything he saw in Chloe was in her father. Everything she was had been lovingly nurtured and allowed to grow at its own pace. Some things pruned, others encouraged. The things that drove her to success, that caused her to fail were probably found somewhere in Gabe; though he had a lifetime of dealing with those things or at least pushing them aside when he had to do so. Gabe could prove just as dangerous to his secret that he thought Chloe had or that Lex did.

Clark turned away to leave, but not before he saw the stunned look on Lois' face. Her mouth was agape and she looked dazed. There was also confusion and warning in her eyes. He had no idea why this revelation should come as a surprise to either of them. To know Chloe was to know her father. And now they both understood that.

He left the room and heard Lois trail after him. Clark sighed. He had to evade her questions, keep her with Gabe and out of his way, and still somehow alleviate her curiosity. She called out to him. Clark didn't want to face her, but he didn't really have a choice. Not if he wanted to accomplish his objectives. He didn't have time for this.

Lois spat her words out at him. They were like a physical lash, indicting him for whatever role he had in Chloe being hurt. "What did he mean?"

He deliberately misinterpreted her question. "I have no idea. He's probably just stressed."

"Don't do that! Don't play dumb with me! You know something," Lois would've been yelling had they been anywhere else. Her hands gestured frantically.

"What is it that you want me to say? I don't know what she was doing or why. I have no idea what she thought would come of it."

Lois stared at him. "What does Oliver have to do with it?"

He imagined that he heard jealousy, but that was something to ponder on a different day. Clark walked away, "Ask him yourself. I have to go."

Her eyes narrowed. "Go where?"

Clark whirled around and for the first time that day, he was truly angry, "Away from here, like her father, your uncle, wanted! And it's none of your business, Lois." He turned away and quickly walked down the hall. It would, in no way, deter her, but he had bought some time.

Lois clenched her jaw and watched his retreating back. Something was going on and she had to find out. Chloe and Gabe were family and she would be damned if Chloe's intrigues and Clark's and Oliver's maneuverings would stop her from discovering the danger her cousin was in.

Clark had to speak with Oliver. The situation had spun out of control. Lex would be in a mood for war and they had to prepare. He had no idea what that meant or how to do it, but they couldn't wait. Lex's, and it could be no one else's, goons had come close to killing Chloe. It was graceless and ugly and he never did anything like that. At least, not without incredibly good cause.

He had lied to Gabe and Lois in that he knew that Chloe was going somewhere at the behest of Oliver, and that it wasn't a simple errand. Whatever they had been doing was deep and he had to know what it was.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: don't own

AN: Been awhile but here ya go! ENJOY!

**Interlude**

He left her room. His comings and goings would be noted, but they weren't anything that would alert anyone. Why should they? He had sat by her bed for hours and no change. She was still there somewhere. Chloe Sullivan was strong and he knew she would pull through. It was the way she was. Through the years, she had changed so much. He saw her maturity. He saw how she tried to protect those around her, and he knew that it weighed on her mind when it wasn't enough because it meant she wasn't enough. She would learn, as everyone else did, that sometimes your best isn't good enough. And just like they, it would make her stronger sometimes and weaker at others. But he knew her. Weakness would never be something she could adapt to, understand, or even accept. It was, perhaps, her greatest flaw. It was also his.

There was nothing more he could do in the hospital, staring at her prone form. There was no peace of mind or new plans that could be developed by sitting and doing nothing. He couldn't keep his life on hold forever. He wasn't built that way. So he made new plans. Plans to find out what she had done to cause him trouble. There could be no forward momentum unless he knew the singular reason why she was here.

He liked to think that he knew her best; but times like these and in the darkest pits of his mind, he knew that sometimes he barely scratched her surface. Sometimes that was a good thing. He couldn't know all of her secrets. She was a separate entity from him, no matter their relationship, but hung his hat on the special insight that he knew set him apart from Clark Kent and her other friends. They liked to think that she was an open book, but they only saw the superficial. They only saw the opaque barrier that hid her true self. Oh, he knew she played their game. He knew that she cared for them and let them see glimpses, but he also knew that she was what they needed. The sidekick. The sounding board. The loving, understanding cousin. But never was she purely Chloe Sullivan. There were times that she could barely accept herself. What made her think that she could give anyone else that part of her if even she wouldn't accept it?

As he walked to his car, he acknowledged to himself that it was the hope that one day she would be able to find that equal, where she didn't have to be anything else, but herself. Few people rarely found it, but it would always be hard for people like her. He chuckled to himself. She and Clark were similar in that way. If Chloe held herself hidden, then Clark Kent never even bothered with the charade. Clark was special and he knew that, but he also knew that the absurd lies hid the true cause of why Chloe was in the hospital. She wasn't fighting for her life in there. She breathed on her own. Her brain activity was still strong if a bit over-stimulated and her heart beat strong in her chest. There was nothing that should be preventing her from waking up. The doctors didn't understand it and neither did he.

Chloe was gifted. She was smart. She possessed abilities that astounded him constantly, but it was nothing that he wasn't capable of and it was time to put them all to the test. He gathered his computer and a few other tools and went to her apartment in Metropolis. It had been a long time since he had broken into a locked place. He found that while he was rusty, it was like getting back on the bike. So while it took him longer than he might've liked, he was in her apartment in relatively little time.

He fully acknowledged that the course of events should never have gotten as far as they had. If he had been diligent or attentive or a million other little things, then he was confident that she would never have so thoroughly been able to pull the wool over his eyes. He had failed and it was a bitter brew to choke on, but he would not stop drinking now. Walking around her apartment gave him a glimpse into the life she led. In many ways, she was as he had always known her and her apartment reflected that. She was loud and brash, with items lovingly positioned. There had always been a method to her madness. She was just very good at concealing her methods, but not from his discerning eyes. That would not be something he allowed anymore.

His gazed alighted on her computer, but it was too obvious. This was the public computer. It would be the one she didn't particularly mind having out in the open because it wouldn't hold anything of value. He needed to look for a hard drive, or a flash drive, or another computer altogether. Chloe would want the comfort of having it close, but not so obvious that anyone with a passing knowledge of her could find it. Even her closest friends. No, it was hidden, but still in her apartment. He bet that she had another, specialized laptop computer with no bells and whistles; just strict functionality. It would be powerful and she would have spared no expense despite her meager funds. While he was ninety-nine percent sure it was a laptop, he wouldn't close off the other possibilities. With this in mind, he went about the business of scouring her apartment, every nook and cranny, every small, insignificant place he could possibly look. It took the full day, but finally found what he was looking for: another laptop.

Taking his prize, he left her apartment. If she ever woke up, it would be obvious that someone had broken into her apartment. There was no reason for him to conceal it. A confrontation between the two of them had been brewing. He would make sure they had it out and everything was in the open because as much as she hid herself, he let her. He would be far more comfortable in his own surroundings. Being in her apartment with evidence of her vibrancy, but lacking the person that made it vibrant was depressing and he didn't want to deal with it. Right off the bat, there were problems because of course even the boot-up would have an algorithm to prevent anyone accessing her secrets. It served as an apt metaphor for her entire life.

Of course decrypting and otherwise getting further access to her laptop was even harder; but since she hadn't awakened, he had time. And then he had access. Her thoughts and hutches through the years were laid bare before him and he seethed. From her wall to weird to now, the sheer volume of intrigue and plans and secrets astounded and infuriated him. Everything he ever wanted to know about Clark Kent was there for him. The full story behind Lionel Luthor's trial was revealed to him as well. It gave him no solace because now he knew. The little bastard had lied to him and now he and Oliver Queen and Lex Luthor would pay. Lex Luthor had many houses with many closets and Gabe knew where he should begin looking for skeletons. Queen would not see it coming and Clark was the weakest of them.

Before he shut down the computer, scrolling texts of what he now knew to be Kryptonian script appeared on the screen. He couldn't read it, but there was a chill that passed over him. That was all it took. Now he would make plans. Chloe was his only child, his daughter, and the only thing he had left of his wife. She was the absolute best he had to offer to the world and he, Gabe Sullivan, would not stop until he took a pound of flesh from the ones who had hurt her and all that she was.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Do not own and all that jazz! Start the car, yo!

AN: Sorry it's been so long, but I come bearing gifts! Read and review, but most of all ENJOY!

**Chapter 2  
**

Gabe sat motionless and silent by Chloe's bedside, willing her to open her eyes, if only for a moment. He had already begun laying the foundation to make Lex Luthor, Oliver Queen, and Clark Kent's life miserable. It wouldn't really take much of a push at this point, but he didn't want it to be fast. It had to be a slow burn. They had to feel every inch of their lives crack and blacken. It had to bleed and blister. He needed their lives to scream and beg for mercy before he could find peace. When it was done, he would watch them smolder. The world didn't need them. He would render them to their base selves and everyone would see them as they were: selfish destroyers, subject to the unrelenting passions of their egos. That was the only possible outcome. The only one that could redress his injury. But even that didn't matter as he stared at his daughter's face, slack and gaunt from the passing weeks. Gabe clinched his fist until the tension left him shaking and an ache formed.

"I can be strong for you, Chloe. You just have to do one thing. Just the one thing."

He caressed her cheek. When she was younger, he could remember watching her sleep and gently caressing her face as he did now. Sometimes she woke up, irritated that her slumber had been disturbed. Gabe smiled. His little girl so grumpy in those times. But other times, she would sigh and snuggle into his caress, safe in the knowledge that he was there because he always would be. His face crumpled. Chloe did neither now. She just…lay there. Unmoving. Insensate. He wondered if she dreamed. Some part of Gabe hoped that she didn't. He hoped that there wasn't a world that she was lost in without him.

With that realization, anger devoured his grief. He was angry at her. Angry that she wasn't fighting harder. That she might have actually given in and that she couldn't will her body back to awareness. Angry that in the moment that she had to be at her strongest, she wasn't.

Something alien moved within him and it came out in his voice. He buried his face in her neck and whispered into her ear, "It's time to wake up, Chloe."

Gabe straightened in his chair, ashamed that he had been so overcome as to blame her. He was exhausted. For two months his life had been nothing but this. Endless days and hours of counting down the time until he got off work and could return to her, only to count down the hours until his body could no longer stay awake and he had to go home to rest. It was a loop that wouldn't be broken until she woke up.

But even so, what came after? Endless days of therapy. Days where she would get so frustrated in her reduced capabilities that she would be paralyzed with grief and hopelessness and give up. Days where he would have to watch her struggle and watch her decide that it wasn't worth it. Days where her progress came easy and she knew she wanted to move forward. Days that her sunny smile would greet him, but the rest of her face would be coated with sweat and effort. Days where he would have to smile back with the same amount of enthusiasm, but feeling the vaguest sense of uselessness. Would he even recognize his daughter in the person who woke up? Could she return to a semblance of normal? And if she couldn't, could she make a new normal? Would she even want to?

_"Will I even be able to help her?"_

A sense of hopelessness so complete, so pervading and all encompassing washed over him. This wasn't despair. It was…emptiness. It was the sense that he had failed even before he had begun. This was utterly new. Until this point, he hadn't even contemplated anything other than a successful after. Chloe would wake up and he would be there for as long as she needed him, and even after she thought she didn't need him anymore. Children always thought that. But it was never true. Until the day he died, she would need him. Just like her children would need her. The only thing that changed was the form of that need.

Gabe's voice changed. It was firmer, full of authority, "I am here, Chloe. I always will be and it is time. It is time to wake-up."

He kissed her forehead and picked up the book he was reading to her. It would be a long night and he would remain.

* * *

It was abrupt. One minute she was unaware and the next, she gasped for breath as a drowning man who had finally found purchase on shore. Her heart pounded furiously in her chest and she was bombarded with sights and sounds and smells. It was unrelenting and intense. Her body gave a violent shudder and she vomited over the side of the railing. She folded in on herself.

Chloe's body trembled and she held her stomach. Distantly, she was aware of a soothing voice and a hand caressing her hair. It felt scratchy and heavy. It was a weird sensation, but she welcomed it. For some reason she felt a keen connection to that touch, but she felt nothing else. Chloe didn't think she had ever felt this before and she didn't want to let it go. She tried to form words, but they came out as an unintelligible moan. If possible, the voice became gentler, but there was a slight echo as if the words he was saying had more meaning. As if there was another wavelength entirely that was trying to convey a message of equal importance.

There were other hands, no less gentle, but unwelcome just the same that encouraged her to roll over onto her back. Chloe instinctively, frantically grabbed at the hands that made her feel the safest. She had to decipher the other meaning. It was her life line. Those hands were her life line. The sudden wave of exhaustion defeated whatever resistance she had maintained and she was on her back, staring into a pinpoint of light. It moved back and forth and for the life of her she couldn't understand what was happening. It was all too much.

Chloe felt a pinprick in her arm and she fell asleep.

If Gabe had, at any point in the last two months felt useless and broken, it paled in comparison to watching his daughter grasp desperately for him in a way that she hadn't done even when she was a little girl. He covered his face with his hands and wiped them down his face. He wished that his body would uncoil from the tension, but it wouldn't. There was something unfinished here. At least he could take solace in the fact that she had awakened.

Gabe exited the room. He needed a break from what just happened and it he could wait for her doctor outside of the room as well as he could inside. He saw the doctor head his way and Gabe prepared himself for the worst, the best, for anything. Chloe was awake and that was all that mattered.

He was anxious and he knew it showed in his face, in his body, and his voice. Gabe didn't even try to hide it. Chloe was his daughter and the best thing in his life, "How is she?"

Kevin Masters knew that some folks liked to be eased into information, uncaring of the fact that it could be good new or bad. And then some folks were like Gabe Sullivan. "Chloe's preliminary responses are fine. Her eyes focus and adjust. Her reflexes are slower, but within normal parameters given her condition. We'll do more tests in the morning to check the extent of any brain trauma."

Gabe nodded. "Okay. She tried to talk and her words were jumbled and I don't know if she even understood me. And she woke up violently. One minute she was motionless and the next awake. Is that normal?"

"It could dysarthia, which is the inability to articulate any words, and is very normal in a recovering coma patient. Or it might be aphasia, which is the inability to sometimes use or comprehend word. It could be temporary, or it might be permanent. If it's temporary, then in a few hours or days, she'll recover. If not, she'll need therapy and she might not fully regain her normal capabilities, but it can be managed. We won't know until we have a look," Dr. Masters looked away for a moment, "No, it isn't normal. Usually patients awaken from a coma gradually, with periods of wakefulness and confusion, then sleep."

The doctor placed a comforting hand on Gabe's shoulder, "Listen, we won't know until we make a thorough examination, but she is awake, Mr. Sullivan. I won't tell you that it will be easy, but your daughter is awake and that means something. It means you have a chance."

Gabe swallowed thickly. It was the words he needed. The doctor left to continue his night's work. He would stay with her. The tears fell freely. There was a chance and that was all that he wanted. The chance to make it right for her. Taking a deep breath, he wiped the tears from his face and straightened his shoulder s and resumed his vigil. He also had to prepare for the inevitable: Clark would be here soon, as would Oliver. Gabe also knew that Lex Luthor would stop by when he thought it safe. Gabe knew the billionaire frequently visited Chloe. Getting into the hospital's surveillance network wasn't particularly difficult. But none of that mattered now. Only one thing did. Chloe. Those other things would have his attention in due time.

_"Chloe, my little girl, is awake."_

* * *

Chloe felt her father finally drift off to sleep. He'd been alternating between working on his laptop, reading, and simply staring at her while holding her hand. She'd been dozing throughout, but she was fully awake at the moment; but she needed a moment alone, both physically and mentally, to process. Chloe only hoped that she was strong and steady enough to walk from her bed to the restroom. All without disturbing her father. It seemed like an impossible task, but she had to try it. She needed a sense of perspective and to come to terms with whatever was happening to her.

After successfully sitting up, Chloe attempted to stand and begin her journey to the restroom, which was all of five feet. Those five feet didn't seem insurmountable; but in between her desire to be as quiet as possible coupled with her general unsteadiness, it was hell. Sweaty, muscle-shaking, tearful hell, but a hell that she had successfully navigated. Chloe could only thank her enhanced healing because she didn't think this was possible in normal coma patients, whose muscles hadn't been properly stimulated for months. She figured she had to have been in her coma for a relatively significant amount of time. It was the only thing that could really explain her father's aura of exhaustion and the impressive beard that covered his face. His hair was also shaggier than normal.

Chloe gently closed the door to the restroom and turned on the light. For a moment she was blinded, but her eyes adjusted and there was only disbelief. Intellectually, Chloe knew that the accident had probably been brutal. She knew it even as she careened wildly and finally came to an abrupt stop. She knew it as her consciousness gradually faded into the discordant tune of sirens, jargon from medical responders, and machinery. But to actually be confronted with what she knew was so much more. There was no expecting the person that looked back at her in the mirror. In part, it was because of what wasn't there.

There were no horrific scars or bruising or anything disfiguring; but there was a gauntness that bespoke of her weakness. She touched her head and watched as the person in the mirror touched hers. It was at this point that Chloe knew that there had been significant brain damage, but the shape of her skull remained intact. Despite this, there were other clues. Her hair was buzzed. Not particularly close to her skull, but shorter than Clark's head of hair. There was a long scar that even now looked better than it had any right to look. It was an odd dichotomy. Chloe knew that there was no way she should've looked this good, this healthy, after such an accident; but she also knew that she still didn't look like herself. She was still foreign in her own eyes. But in the end, she was grateful. Grateful to the meteor rocks that had clearly conferred to her a benefit.

Chloe raised her hand to the mirror and traced the outline of her face. It really was her. So wrapped up in herself and her thoughts was she, that she failed to notice the door opening. She came back to herself when she felt strong arms wrap around her waist. Focusing her eyes on the other person, Chloe saw that it was her father. And his face was lined with grief and happiness. She met his gaze in the mirror and there was a connection there that hadn't been before her coma. A phantom outlined his body so that it seemed that there were three people in the mirror and not two.

She turned and buried her face in her father's chest. It was a wealth of strength and comfort. There was no knowing when she started crying or when she heard his sobs, but she knew that those sounds of happiness entwined with an unyielding relief was theirs.

"Still trying to sneak out, Chloe?"

She chuckled softly. Humor had always been one of their go-to plays to relieve the heaviness of any given situation. "You know me, dad. There's always a story. It just happens to be me this time."

Gabe's face changed and the phantom outline darkened. He touched her face. "This shouldn't be possible."

"I know."

_"Tell me, Chloe. Just tell me the truth."_

He searched her face for some clue that she would tell him, but he knew that she wouldn't. Gabe couldn't really blame her. It was too fantastical; and a month before, he would've never believed it. He could accept reality now only because he had broken into her apartment and looked through her computer. Some other entity drove him forward as well. This new awareness would not let him hide. But no, he did not blame her. She was back and she was as she had always been. It was more than he had thought possible only a few moments before she had awakened, grasping for him.

"We'll talk later. But now you should get some rest," he paused for a moment, "You want to walk back or can I carry my little girl to bed?"

Chloe just wrapped her arms around him just like when she was younger. She didn't really ask to be carried. Chloe would just fling herself into his arms or onto his legs. It was his cue to pick her up. He couldn't deny that she had trained him well if even now he found himself responding to it. When he had her in bed, Gabe caressed her cheek, which she leaned into and went to sleep. He kissed her forehead.

His daughter was truly back and it would only get harder from here; but he was thankful for the opportunity.

He whispered into the darkness, "I love you, sweetheart, and it's all for you."


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: All the SV writers' moms are snowblowers. Since my mother is not a snowblower, clearly I do not own SV. It's for the best. My mom is so awesome.

**Chapter ****3**

When Chloe awakened it wasn't to the haggard, if happy face, of her father. It was to an empty room. The blinds were opened slightly and provided a shaft of light that illuminated only a small portion of the room. In some ways, it reflected her life. Actually that image was a reflection of everyone's lives. It was a representation of the things we keep hidden, either because there is a belief that no one will understand _this_ perversion or _this _oddity or quirk of personality, never truly understanding that the people you love most will eventually see those things even if you don't show them. But sometimes people could get it right. They toss open the blinds, the curtains, and illuminate the entire dark room of their lives. There was nothing scarier, nothing more daunting than to be laid bare in all your color.

Chloe knew all of those things. She could even see which parts of her room she kept needlessly dark, but she didn't want to change that. Or maybe she couldn't. She wasn't a fool. Not for one minute did she believe her father had just stayed by her bed. On some level she didn't know existed, Chloe recognized the fact that her father might have tried to find out what happened. Actually, there was no "might" about it. Her father would've dug deep and he would've found something. She knew it was true. Chloe didn't even need to consult the new feeling of connection with her father to know. All she had to do was remember the look in his eyes when his thousand mile stare confronted her two nights ago.

Knowing this, however, didn't change the fact that she wouldn't confide in him. Chloe was selfish in the way that she knew Clark to be…and Oliver and Lex and Lana and basically everyone she surrounded herself with. She even figured they knew and recognized their own selfishness; even if it looked differently than her own. The overwhelming majority of her, the part of Chloe that felt so deeply couldn't confide in her father. Not because she didn't think he couldn't handle it, but because she couldn't. There were always lines of considerations that were drawn. Her father couldn't be the man that knew that part of Chloe's life.

She didn't want him to be that for her. She didn't need that from him. She only wanted him to be her father: the man that saw her as a budding, delinquent, trouble-making reporter. That she wasn't those things depressed her more than anything because she so desperately wanted her father to see that in her so she could see it again. Chloe may have made a new normal for herself, but it didn't mean she never wanted to go back to what she was. This was only a diversion and she knew she could find her way back, and a large part of that hope lay in the man who raised her to be that person.

Chloe covered her faces with her hands and sighed. _"__I __can__'__t __be __this. __This __can__'__t __be __who __I __am." _Even as she thought that, Chloe knew that she could change it now. Now would be the perfect time to let everything else go. She didn't have to work at the Daily Planet. There were many other ways to be who and what she wanted to be. But it had to start now or she would never make the necessary changes in her life. Chloe recognized that as the truest fact of her life. As she lay dying, Chloe had come to peace with her life and accepted it; but it didn't mean that she couldn't or shouldn't take time to reevaluate where she could go now that she had survived. She would be a fool not to do so.

Even as she felt this heightened connection to her father, there was the nagging suspicion that he was avoiding her. Sure, he left to talk to doctors and nurses, and generally run errands on her behalf; but he wasn't really engaging her anymore. His affability when he was around her remained, but there was an edge to it. She probably wouldn't have noticed it if she hadn't been specifically looking for something different in him. In his own way, her father had been traumatized. Chloe wasn't sure if his avoidance was due to the fact that she wasn't sharing everything, him trying to develop and lay the foundation for her leaving the hospital or a general nervousness because of her condition. Whatever it was, it was painful that he was withdrawing from her. It wasn't a bridge she knew how to cross and she couldn't assume that he would waltz over it.

Clark walking through the door shoved aside what was sure to be more maudlin thoughts of the fissure between her father and herself. It was probably for the best. She quickly retracted that thought when she looked up to greet Clark. Whatever phantom that Chloe believed outlined the form of her father was nothing compared to the shapes that surrounded and clung to Clark Kent and formed a miasma of inky darkness and vapor that flowed around him.

Two forms were distinct from the others. They separated and seemed to be conversing with only each other. A chorus of unintelligible echoes emanated from them.

_"__You __have __always __been __a __fool, __Jor-El, __and __you __always __will __be.__"_

_"__Krypton __will __be __reborn __and __I __will __be __its __father.__"_

_"__The __problems __of __Krypton __are __beyond __your __comprehension, __Jor-El! __We __solved __problems __once. __The __thought __of __more __than __our __lives, __however __secure, __sustained __us. __You __waste __us __with __your __static __pride. __It __will __destroy __us.__"_

The Jor-El that was known to them was noble if a bit single-minded, but that was placed into context and understood: this form was a mere artificial intelligence and whatever adaptability living organisms had were lost to it. But this new vision of Jor-El was something smaller than his AI would suggest. The full context may not have been present for Chloe, but those impassioned words hinted at Jor-El being a weaker man, though she did not trust the motives of Zor-El. Even villains spoke the truth occasionally.

_"__How __did __I __know __that __voice __was __Zor-El?__"_

There was more, but Chloe was abruptly awakened from her fugue when Clark's warm hand and concerned voice penetrated the darkness.

"Chloe? Are you okay?"

Clark's concerned face snapped into sharp focus in front of her. The dark apparitions faded until they were nothing more than tricks of light in a slightly darkened room. For a moment, even Clark seemed mesmerized by the single shaft of light in the room and an awkward silence stretched between them. It was awkward in the sense that they both needed to do something, but neither knew what that something was. It was a new feeling, but then the tension sagged and Chloe was in his arms before she even knew it. She also didn't know when she started crying. When her sobbing subsided and she calmed down, Clark drew away from her.

His voice was soft and gentle; just like he could be when he let his instinctual compassion take over and he stopped thinking about how he could fail. "Do you want me to call a nurse or maybe get you some water? I might be persuaded to even coffee smuggling."

They both laughed and, for a moment, everything was ok; but they both knew that things would get serious soon. Clark glanced at the door before he left the side of her bed and closed it. He was serious and worried as only he could be. It was like a bad taste in her mouth.

"Chloe, what happened? What were you doing? I asked Oliver, but I don't think he was clear on the details either."

Chloe blew out a breath and leaned back in the bed. She pushed hair out of her face. Despite it being very short a few days ago, it had been making a remarkable recovery in the two days she'd been out of her coma. She stared at the ceiling.

Her voice was a mere whisper when she answered Clark. "I don't know. I can't remember anything other than the crash."

She knew that he wouldn't believe her and that he didn't when his eyes hardened. Chloe flinched away from his anger because, in many ways, it was justified; but there wasn't anything she could do about it but reassure him because she honestly didn't know what she had been doing that night or what was so important that she had to provoke Lex the way she so obviously had.

Clark raked his hands through his hair in frustration. "That's not possible, Chloe. This was important for you to…do whatever it is you did that night."

She sat up and would've made a biting comment if Jonathan Kent hadn't chosen that minute to solidify and speak to her. It was a rasped whisper. "Ask him…ask him if he had to choose between his father and Lana who would it be? Ask him how he could be so arrogant that he would abuse and twist fate and change time itself. This can't be my son."

And just like that he disappeared. It only took a minute and she was sure that it held profound meaning. Clark's voice once more lanced through any thought she might've had. She swallowed thickly; her throat suddenly dry. She might very well be losing her mind.

"Chloe!"

She knew that tone. It was his "adult" tone; the one that said he wanted answers and he wanted them now. The only problem was that she didn't even understand the question. Chloe mentally set her hallucination, for that was all it could possibly be, aside so that she could focus on Clark. She had major brain trauma and was in a coma. These things had to be expected. If she voiced her problem, then she might be forced to stay in the hospital. On the other hand, something could be very wrong. But she considered all the angles and realized that her healing was still in effect and this would pass.

"Look, Clark, I suffered major brain trauma and was in a coma. I think it's pretty safe to say that there might be some ramifications for that. Possibly, I dunno, fucking memory loss!"

Chloe thought that she had been calm and patient during the beginning of her statement, but by the end, she knew she had lost it and was near hysteria.

"That isn't fair, Chloe. Something is happening. Oliver's business dealings are suffering and all of a sudden Lexcorp is rebounding. He's planning something and that only happens when he's afraid of something or trying to stop something."

Chloe sighed. "What do you want me to do? I'm not healing faster, I can't remember anything about that night other than the crash, and my dad will be taking care of me until he's satisfied that I'm ok. You'll have to deal with this yourself because I can't do it for you, Clark. I'm not able."

Clark never thought she'd say that about anything. Chloe had always been fearless, maybe even reckless, but there was always a point to it. Now she was telling him that she couldn't help either himself or Oliver. If he were being honest with himself, he'd even admit that she didn't seem to want to help either. Something was wrong. He just needed to figure it out.

_"__Maybe __Lois __can __help.__"_

The thought never crossed his mind that he might want to alert Gabe. He had the sinking suspicion that this new consideration, this new reticence, was due to her father. They hadn't been close recently and he had foolishly thought that she was fine with that. He saw first-hand what Chloe's coma had done to her father. It wasn't pretty and as a basic human emotion, he felt sympathetic to Gabe's suffering. Gabe was a good man and he didn't deserve what had happened. Of course, no one deserved such an outcome. Clark could see that it might be a good thing for Chloe to take a step back and get to know her father better. It was an opportunity he would never have and it was a burden knowing why it was that way.

Two more apparitions pulled from Clark.

_"__Krypton __will __burn.__"_

_"__What __have __you __done, __Brainiac?__"_

Jor-El's shocked voice reverberated through her entire body. It was genuine horror and fear, tinged with something else. Chloe thought it might've been resignation. Jor-EL couldn't have been as naïve as the people around him thought. Not if he had the foresight to send Clark to Earth and equip him with the tools that could aid him. Chloe thought that perhaps now was the time for a freak-out. Three times she had hallucinated in the short time that Clark had visited her. There was a portentous quality to them.

They were trying to tell her something but she could not decipher the meaning of it. Were these real things? Was she truly hallucinating? If the latter, she could probably deal with it. She was in a coma as she said. There was medication or tests or something. And knowing the cause, could easily lead to a good outcome for her. But if she was seeing real things, then what next? How was it possible? What greater meaning could there? Because there had to be one if these were real.

_"__Could __they __be __stopped __if __they__'__re __real?__"_

Lois chose that moment to unceremoniously barge in and commandeer her attention away from Clark. Chloe knew that in the split second between opening the door and seeing Chloe that she had taken a reading on the tension in the room and sought to dissolve the situation. Lois was in turns a relief and a burden. Right now, she was the drink of water in the desert. Clark gave her a warning look. The conversation was not over. Despite this, Chloe could not quell the nagging feeling that she needed her father right that moment. For now Chloe would relax and let her cousin distract her. Lois did tell the best stories sometimes.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** don't own

**AN: **Real AN at the end of the chapter

**Chapter****4**

_"Nothing there was a town, or a church, or a river, or a color, or a light, or a shadow._

_I kept still for a while and felt a pleasant sensation_

_as the indescribable great harmony_

_the brightness of the sky and the melancholy of the moment spread throughout my body._

_It was just a dream._

_I don't know what happened inside my mind_

_nor do I have any way of putting it in to words._

_It was a moment that defied all words,_

_when I felt something inside me fall asleep_

_and something else wake up..."_

_-Joe Bousquet_

* * *

The pale red of the sky kissed the window and provided a warm glow that played against the petals of his favorite flower. The petals, slightly unfurled, gently swayed towards the red rays. This was the perfect place to allow the flower to grow. The direct light of the noon sun would have this flower in full bloom in no time. It was difficult cultivating this particular breed, but Zor-El was nothing if not persistent. This flower needed love, but more important, it needed the initial burned petals before it would grow anew, stronger and more durable. Most of his kindred could not understand this flower. But Zor-El did. It thrived in a harsh environment, but it had to be a measured harshness: too much and the plant would wither and die, burned beyond recognition and carrying a foul odor. The odor was the true obstacle for nobody wanted to contend with the evidence of such failure.

Joy and happiness and contentment suffused him. His body and mind were languid and complacent. This feeling was as if he had been cast adrift in the clinging waters of Krypton. This was his pride. His sanctuary. It was bliss. He could not say that there only ever be these moments here, in this place, for he had a family that he adored; but he could say that it felt different than anything. There were nuances to each feeling that could never truly be replicated by different circumstances.

Zor-El reached out to stroke the resilient flower, but his hand was not his own. It was small and feminine. He furrowed his brow. _What? _From the corner of his eye, a soft red glow caught his attention. Glancing towards it, he saw his reflection in the glass. His eyes were green and his hair blond. Then something snapped into place and Chloe saw herself within the glass, but she still knew herself as Zor-El. The cognitive dissonance staggered her for a moment.

Before she could get her bearing, Chloe heard a familiar voice behind her and whirled to face the interloper of her sacred space. _Clark?_

"It has always baffled me, brother, how it is that you should have the patience for growth."

Jor-El seemed to be waiting for some kind of response, but Chloe/Zor-El could only gape. She could clearly see Clark's features, but beyond that achingly familiar face was that of Jor-El, Zor-El's brother. Immersed within the general confusion of what was going on and why it was happening now, was the hot sensation of resentment that Jor-El/Clark would come here, that he would violate this place with his presence.

Jor-El never appreciated beautiful things. Only the mechanical. Only the technological. Zor-El knew it would be his undoing some day, but not today or even tomorrow. Jor-El was in a place of power and prestige. The current golden boy of Krypton's technocratic elite, but even that would prove, in the end, to be an ephemeral honor.

He smirked and pushed past Chloe towards the flower she had been admiring and lovingly tending. "The nura flower. So exquisite. So complicated. So prickly. But in the end, discarded and poorly understood," Jor-El/Clark turned towards her, "I can see why this, above all else, has enraptured you."

Chloe/Zor-El was finally able to think and act. She grabbed Clark/Jor-El's hand before he could touch the flower and was finally able to speak, "What is it that you want? And why would you come here instead of calling for me?"

Jor-El shook Zor-El's hand off. "The biological parts of Brainiac are not interfacing with the technological. I need you to fix it."

A moment of dazzling confusion rocked Chloe. The sensation of rage and hatred and resentment at his entitlement overwhelmed her. The Brainiac project was oneZor-El did not care for. It was Jor-El's brainchild, but he could not or would not see the more radical elements of Krypton's power brokers manipulating them all. Of course, that list began and ended with Zod and his desires, but that was neither here nor there. The point was that any number of scientists could deal with this issue, tha Jor-El came to him was galling.

_"__These __are __not __my __emotions. __This __is __not __my __life. __This __isn__'__t __real. __It __can__'__t __be.__"_

The muscle along Chloe's jaw ticked and her head throbbed. She couldn't tell if it was because of the disorientation of living someone else's life, the irritation of the being she inhabited, or the general ambivalence she held towards both Clark and Jor-El at this point._"__Maybe __it__'__s __all __of __the __above.__"_

Chloe briskly walked towards the door and past Clark. "I have no time for you, brother. I am going to spend time with my family."

She heard Jor-El snarl in anger. She had, apparently, pushed passed his limits. _"__Such __casual __entitlement __to __my __time.__"_

Her arm was grabbed from behind and Chloe was forced to face Clark, his beautiful face twisted in anger and impatience. Jor-El's jaw was tightly clenched, but he managed to speak anyway. "There have been promises made! And our House will keep those promises!"

Zor-El would've pushed him away, but Jor-El had size and conviction on his side.

"Your promises are yours. I told you this project would take longer than your optimism would allow. I told you and the High Council and General Zod that the improvements you need are five, maybe ten, years away! I can no more speed time than I can leap over tall buildings; and nothing you say can or will change those facts," Zor-El sneered, "Not even you, the high and mighty Jor-El, can make it so. One day you will finally have the wisdom these people attribute to you, but clearly today is not that day."

With that, Chloe jerked her arm from Clark's grasp and left the room. Her security measures would prevent any damage that Jor-El might feel the need to inflict. Chloe didn't care, but she felt the resentment and jealousy seethe in Zor-El. She had no doubt that this was the moment of the House of El's downfall and Krypton itself. _"__It__'__s __all __over __save __for __the __explosion __and __mass __death. __Oh __and __also __the __betrayal.__"_

Zor-El, she knew or rather felt, had every intention of going home to his family, but he was too irritated with everything in general and Jor-El and himself specifically. _"__I __am __too __weak __and __Jor-El __knows __it. __Everyone __knows __it. __But __I __will __show __them. __All __of __them.__"_

He abruptly turned on his heel and headed towards the Science Complex, where Brainiac was housed. He had been truthful with Jor-El. Brainiac's production could not be improved until the biological components caught up with the technological and Zor-El would not work harder than he had to. He could admit that Jor-El was brilliant, but it was as much a flaw as it was a virtue because it blinded him. Of course, they were all blinded by something and no one knew what it was until the fateful moment your own hubris and ignorance folded in on itself. _"__The __center __will __always __be __too __weak. __Will __my __time __be __soon?__"_

The Science Complex of Krypton's capitol city was vast. It was one of the crowning jewels of Krypton. Nothing was spared in its creation. The Science Complex combined a living spaces for families, high tech research labs, recreational areas, schools for children and the Science Academy for those embarking on a lifetime career. It was the marriage of Kryptonian leisure and work. The notion of "work where you play" was fulfilled here. There were other Complexes, but the Science Complex was the current hotbed of activity and productivity.

Chloe followed the route that Zor-El was taking. She knew every face and voice that called a greeting. And even though Zor-El was oblivious to the future of Krypton and even though she didn't quite understand his role in it, there was a moment of profound and overwhelming sorrow for this civilization that, in about ten years, would be destroyed and for him. She took in the beauty of her surroundings that Zor-El was oblivious to in his angst, but that she marveled at.

But all too soon, Zor-El was nearing where he wanted to go. Chloe got the distinct feeling that Zor-El saw the irony in heading to the one place his brother demanded he go. And then she was in the presence of Brainiac and she was shook to her very foundations. Nothing could possibly have prepared her for this sight…for this moment in her life. How could she ever have thought that this was anything other than a nightmare? How foolish could she have been to have just accepted being a passenger in this experience?

What confronted her was the sleeping face of her father, but underneath that image, as had been true with Jor-El/Clark, was the face of the Brainiac she had known. She wanted to smash that face. To destroy it. It wasn't her father. This couldn't be Gabriel Sullivan. It was wrong and why this was happening escaped her. It was beyond meaning or comprehension for her. Of all the people to cast as this…destructive force. All the people in the world and it was her father's face.

_"__Could __this __be __because __of __his __prominence __in __my __life? __Because __no __one __can __destroy __me __like __he __can? __Does __my __father __truly __represent __destruction? __How __is __it __possible? __What __am __I __missing?__"_

But in the end everything came to one point. _"__Have __I __really __failed __this __hard __with __my __father?__"_

Chloe was frustrated, confused, and above all else, frightened. There had to be a deeper meaning to this. To all of this. Whatever "this" actually was. And she couldn't even begin to define it. In truth, she never thought there had been a need, despite her previous hallucinations. _"__But __what __can __that __deeper __meaning __possibly __be?__"_

The beautiful, silken tones of Lex Luthor assaulted her ears, "You can never resist his goading. I knew that all I needed to do was plant a little bug in his ear and off to you he'd go running! Run to you, the brother he can't understand, but that he needs. You two! Such complements to a problem of our own making. Oh, Jor-El! Such a fellow as had ever been, yes?"

His voice may have been Lex's, but the face, the movement, the gestures, the intonation and inflection and affectation was all General Zod. The knowledge came to Chloe fast and furious. _"__All __actors __in __a __play._

Chloe recalled the first time she had ever hallucinated: the day Clark had visited her and she saw Zor-El and Brainiac and Jonathan Kent. _"__It __comes __in __threes. __Even __now.__"_

Lex circled her. His face lost its haughty sneer and he grasped Zor-El's shoulders in a bruising grip. "When will you learn? Today maybe? Years from now?"

Chloe knew the truth, in all its horrific glory and implication: none of them would ever learn.

Somewhere, deep down, Zor-El knew that General Zod respected him and may have even liked him to a certain extent; but it would never be enough to give up whatever goals he thought he needed to accomplish. General Zod was driven. He existed on a plane not of his creation, but of his embrace. Whatever friendship they could have had was dead on the vine before it could really take hold because Zod would never be willing to tend to it as it needed.

Lex abruptly let her go. "I have plans for this wonder of ours," he turned towards Chloe, "You can be a part of those plans. There is always room and I never shut the door."

Zor-El/Chloe's eyes narrowed. "You play a dangerous game, General Zod. It will end poorly. Of this I am certain."

Zod/Lex smirked and he clapped in faux exclaim. "So the future is known to you now? What is this? Shall we go to the Ministry? Shall we tell them of your mental prowess?"

The irony was not lost on Chloe, but of course, it was lost on Zor-El, a long dead Kryptonian specter. She wished that she could see humor, but there was only tragedy and impotence as far as the eye could see.

Zor-El chuckled softly. "It doesn't take knowing the future to see how this ends. You think you will win. Jor-El thinks he will. The High Council thinks they will. And all of Krypton looks to you, to us, and we will only fail them."

Zod's mouth twisted into the semblance of a smile, but it was ugly and almost violent in its aggression. "We shall see, Zor-El. You can be assured that the time for bystanders is at an end. Five years or ten," Zod's hand made a violent downward motion, "It doesn't matter. Brainiac will be online and Krypton will be changed forever. All of us will see to that."

For the first time since this bizarre convergence happened, Chloe and Zor-El were in complete and utter agreement.

* * *

Chloe woke, gasping and with a scream stuck in her throat. All of the foreboding and sense of confusion and many other emotions tumbled down upon her in rapid succession. She couldn't process it nor could she end it. Chloe rode the turbulence of her mind until it calmed and settled.

The pervading sense that someone was in her room with her forced her to acknowledge that presence. It was Oliver. Her heart felt as if it slammed against the breastbone of her chest because Oliver was not himself. He had a long Errol Flynn goatee. His outfit had a mature edge to it and his bow and arrow looked less modern and more "days of yore", but just as deadly. He was the Green Arrow, but not as she knew him.

On the edge of her awareness was her father. _"__Is __this __the __first __of __three?_

* * *

**Author's Note: **In other news, I know this chapter was probably confusing in parts (or all), what with my crazy use of names and such, but I think if you reread it and maybe view it as a kind of extended, crazy, surreal metaphor for what is going on up 'til now in the story, it will add depth…at least, that's the goal and I hope I've succeeded. You guys should totes tell me if I did...Or, ya know, if I didn't; but be gentle! :)


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: not mine  
AN: Enjoy!

**Chapter 5**

Chloe was surely having an out of body experience. It was a feeling of absolute and complete disconnection from her mind and body. It was as if a gaping rift was torn between her conscious mind and her physical self. Whatever vague memories she had of the car wreck and the flashes she had of the ambulance ride and faces peering at her had nothing on what she was experiencing now. She could comprehend this, even if she couldn't reconcile what was happening. Chloe watched, as if she were standing in the doorway to her hospital room, her body attempt to come to grips with the Oliver she confronted her. This was an Oliver who was Green Arrow and goateed. This was something she could never have imagined on her own.

From outside her body, Chloe say herself calm a little and Oliver take her into his arms. She saw the momentary hesitation and fleeting pity. Chloe saw how quickly he killed his pity and remember that she didn't need it, but that she did need his comfort. The Green Arrow silhouette smoothly flowed and settled around Chloe as well. It was then that awareness of herself, her complete self, snapped into focus. It felt like she was being enveloped by two presences, but it was not uncomfortable, physically, even if it was a bit unnerving. There was also a strong sense of déjà vu. It had only been a few days before when she and Clark had come together and then so disastrously ended. _"Will this end the same?"_

Chloe fervently hoped that she and Oliver could end in a better place than she and Clark. She genuinely loved and cared for Clark, but a break from him could be a good thing. But from Oliver? He was a steadying influence. Oliver had gone through a lot in his life and he tried hard to be a better person. To be a hero. His morality didn't come easy. In literal terms, he did break the law on occasion to right some perceived wrong, and she knew that he believed in that. Chloe also knew that he was afraid that he would go too far one day. She also knew that he did not do well with defeat. It was a problem for him and it was the one thing she couldn't really tell about him: could he rebound on his own when that day inevitably came?

The silence between them that had been edging towards uncomfortable was broken by the rough, but patient voice of the Green Arrow silhouette. He smiled and that was when Chloe knew that this was Oliver. There was no doubt. That grin was still sly and mischievous. It was all him.

_"You will never know, Chloe, if I can if you never let me."_

Oliver hadn't really looked alarm, but something must have shown on her face because now he was concerned. He framed her face in his hands.

"Chloe? Are you ok?"

_"Yes, Chloe. Are you ok?"_

The same cadence. The words said exactly the same, but she heard the sarcasm underlying Green Arrows words. Not kind, but not exactly cruel. Oliver searched her eyes. He knew there was something wrong. Chloe saw the moment that he knew she wouldn't tell him. She also saw that he wouldn't ask her about it. Yet. He wouldn't ask her yet, but she knew that as soon as he went to his condo, he'd pore over every bit of information she had given him prior to the accident.

_"You can't let him do that, Chloe. He will use it to hide from something else. He can't hide this time. You can't let me do this, Chloe."_

Chloe drew back from Oliver's hands and closed her eyes. It was _his_voice. Oliver's voice.

Oliver leaned back in his chair, as the Green Arrow stalked around the bed to stand at the window. Oliver exhaled and then leaned forward in his chair, but Chloe's eyes were drawn to the window. To the bulkier and more mature Green Arrow standing so close to her. Green Arrow held up his hand to the light. He was slightly transparent. The light didn't bend around him.

Feeling Oliver's hand on her thigh, Chloe turned to him. He was more than concerned for her. Oliver was no fool and he knew something was seriously wrong. Moving from the chair to the side of her bed, he sat and faced her. Oliver's voice was gentle, as if he spoke to an animal that could startle at any moment, which Chloe realized she was.

Oliver's voice betrayed his desperation. "Something isn't right here. I can feel it. Something's happened and it's changed you."

Chloe looked down and away from him, but he caught her chin in his hand and forced her eyes to his again. He continued, "I understand if you can't tell me. This takes time, but Chloe I am here for you. I'm not leaving you. I promise."

_"You know, Chloe, you deserve to be selfish and to have so much more. For instance, you deserve that promise I just made. It is, in fact, a promise I'll keep, Chloe. But you can't let me keep it."_

The Green Arrow's fingers ghosted over her face. Chloe felt the displacement of the air. It raised goose bumps on her flesh and made her hair stand on end. _"Push me away, Chloe. Let me fail this time. Or I will never know until it's too late."_

Chloe put her hand over Oliver's, which remained on her face. The desire to never let go overwhelmed her, but something inside of her was telling her that the apparition of Green Arrow was right. It felt like Truth. She gripped his hand like a lifeline, and then pushed him away.

She sighed and smiled slightly. "I know you're here for me," she paused and looked at the Green Arrow, "It's been a weird few days and I kinda just want to be normal. What's happening with you?"

Oliver could accept that. "I really haven't been doing anything except dealing with Queen Industries. The markets haven't been favorable to us recently," he waivered slightly, "I've been trying to retrace your steps the night of your accident."

The Green Arrow snorted on the other side of her. _"A bit passive-aggressive of him to mention that. That's something he could've not mentioned. It's a way to get a response."_

It hadn't escaped Chloe's notice, but she had already made her decision. She had tossed in her lot with an apparition, something that could be an indication of her incipient mental illness, but it felt right.

_"It's a bad decision now, Chloe. Don't think otherwise. But it will become good later."_

"Oliver, I—"

"Don't remember anything," he finished for her. "Clark told me. And he also said you haven't spoken to him since. Chloe, you are able to heal. You came back from the dead once and this, this, is stalling you! A car accident. Doesn't that seem off to you? Maybe we should look into this further."

_"You should keep ignoring Clark, Chloe. Of course, that's personal opinion. Just kidding. He'll grow out of it, eventually. You'd be surprised. I was and then I wasn't."_

Chloe was becoming annoyed and she really wanted to be alone. "I actually don't want to talk about Clark or being in the hospital or anything related to what is happening to me now. I'm a little tired. Can we talk later?"

Before Oliver could respond, her nurse walked through the door. She was preternaturally cheery, but it did serve to break the slowly developing tension in the room. "It's time for your check-up."

Oliver looked vaguely annoyed and the Green Arrow silhouette smirked.

_"Saved by the bell, Chloe. You will always be a part of our lives, but you can't be who you are for me this time and for that, I am truly sorry."_

Oliver kissed her softly before he left. "I will never leave you, Chloe."

_"He is speaking the truth as he understands it, Chloe. As I understood it then. He will never leave you, not completely, but he will withdraw. You can bring me back to you if you want, but not before you let him fail."_

It was a struggle for Chloe to force the words past her lips, but she did because she loved him. "I know, Ollie. I'll call you later."

Gabe waited ten minutes after Oliver arrived before he took the opportunity to leave the hospital and take care of a few business dealings. It was a little difficult getting a bit of dirt on Queen Industries, but Oliver couldn't be everywhere all of the time. Of course, Gabe's endeavors were aided by breaking into the Watchtower. Chloe's touches were all over it, and it nearly proved impossible for him to gain access. He was further aided by what he deduced were Lex Luthor's meddling, which was fortunate since Luthorcorp was also a target.

Gabe couldn't do everything he wanted because Chloe had installed countermeasures and neither Oliver Queen nor Lex Luthor were slouches in that department either. They were also fully capable of responding to new situations. Only time would tell if he was successful in his bid to guide them into conflict with each other because just being that spark between them wasn't enough. One of them had to destroy the other and then he could become more involved.

_"Now for you, Clark Kent."_

Kent's weakness was his mother and Lana Lang. Martha and Jonathan were generally squeaky clean but between Chloe's personal database and the Watchtower and Martha's activities as the Red Queen, it was not going to be hard to bring down Senator Martha Kent. Martha Kent may have thought that her activities justified what she was doing, but Gabe didn't need to even twist the facts to prove malfeasance. It was disappointing. Until this moment, he didn't even realize how much it would hurt to realize that Martha Kent wasn't just like everyone else, she was worse than many of them. It was no wonder Clark was the man he was: short-sighted and callous. Gabe supposed that Clark really wasn't a bad person, but he wasn't growing. Clark just didn't learn.

It wasn't that the Kents weren't good parents or guardians, but Clark was a super-powered alien and being good enough wasn't enough. It was hard to truly be what a child needed and it was hard to be what an alien needed, but they took the challenge and forged an entitled prick. Actually, Jonathan had done a good job, but he died and whatever lessons Clark may have learned was forgotten and his mother's actions didn't inspire confidence that it was all him being a fool.

"Let's see how much mud I can track all over the Kent name. Ya know, Clark, I wonder if you'll do the right thing. Will you report on your mother? Or will you simply offer more excuses? Let's see how much you truly value your morality. Me? I bet you prove how unworthy you really are."

Gabe glanced at the time and he realized that he probably should get back to the hospital. Oliver had spent enough time with his daughter. He stopped what he was doing and headed for the hospital.

He arrived just in time to hear his daughter ask Oliver to leave. _"My timing is perfection."_

Oliver Queen approached Gabe quickly. There was an aura of resolve about him.

"Mr. Sullivan, do you think we could talk?"

He smiled widely, "Yes, of course, Oliver. Let's go to the lounge."

This would be a perfect way to take a measure of Oliver's mindset.

"What's on your mind, Oliver?"

Oliver didn't really know how to start this conversation. "How is Chloe doing? She seemed a bit…off kilter."

Gabe looked away and his mouth twisted. "_Son of a bitch"_

He stepped closer to Oliver. "What is it that you think should be happening? She was in a coma."

"I know, but I just—"

"Just what, Oliver? Unbelievable. Chloe needs support. If you can't be that, then don't come around."

Gabe pushed passed Oliver towards Chloe's room.

As soon as Chloe was sure that Oliver was gone, she turned on her television. Chloe put her head in her hands. Throughout their entire conversation, Oliver hadn't really given her an indication that what was going on was bad. It seemed mundane. But beneath the current of general misfortune that plagued Queen Industries and others, she could see a pattern. What she saw was Brainiac's virus being used in a different, more destructive, way. It was a time bomb that counted down to something worse than Dark Thursday.

Chloe whispered softly, "How?"

Chloe had to stop the situation, but she couldn't help Oliver or Clark directly. They had to feel the consequences of their actions, and she couldn't even identify why she genuinely thought that or why she even trusted in apparitions to guide her. The thought was a bell that rang with clarity and purity. She had to follow it.

_"There is something more here. I just need to find out what it is."_


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 6**

_"It is impossible to tell where revelations stop and hallucinations begin."  
-Author Unknown_

In all honesty, Chloe expected to be here again. She expected to feel this way and to not truly understand what was happening. It was what her life was reduced to after her crash: incomprehensible events. It was only fitting that her life, dedicated to uncovering truths and revealing events, had descended into an obscuring veil. She could describe it no other way, especially since she knew herself to be Zor-El once more.

Zor-El was sitting in a darkened room and drinking some kind of fluid that burned on the way down her throat. She felt a steady pulsing heat flow through her veins, an ebb of heat that was followed by a cooling sensation. It was an amazing feeling and Chloe could only deduce that maybe this was some kind of alcoholic beverage. There was a whirring sound and intermittent beeping in the room. Zor-El touched the cool glass to his forehead and sighed. She felt sad and intense disappointment. He glanced up and Chloe could barely make out an even darker shape on a table.

"We're all fools, machine. To a last Kryptonian, we're all fools. I should've ended this long ago."

Chloe could felt her throat clench. It was impossible to think, but Zor-El was on the verge of tears. He slammed his hand onto the arm of the chair. Zor-El snorted into his glass Chloe felt the sting on the palm of her hand, but a quick swig of her drink made the pain inconsequential. She closed her eyes. Chloe, herself, was frustrated beyond whatever Zor-El was feeling. She didn't know what caused this and she didn't dare guess. What would be the point? _"Dammit, hallucination! Exposit or something!"_

Zor-El heaved himself up and out of his chair and staggered towards the dark shape. He waved his hand in the air and the room was illuminated. Chloe saw that the figure on the table was Brainiac, her father. Her mind recoiled from this vision. She hadn't coped well the first time she had seen this and it would be no different this time. There was a computer display next to Brainiac's head. It seemed to be some kind of diagnostic.

Quick words scrolled across the screen. From Zor-El's knowledge, Chloe realized that Kryptonian script worked on two different planes and that Jor-El and Brainiac had simplified the script to be compatible with human technology and understanding. Left to right gave the grammatical form and up to down gave context. The readout was telling her Brainiac's programming. This was the source of Zor-El's steep disappointment: Brainiac had been modified and dangerously so.

Admitting his brother was a genius had never been a problem. Zor-El was proud of his younger brother, but he was not proud of the man Jor-El would eventually become. Jor-El knew how to build things. He knew how to program them and give them purpose, but such things didn't matter if Zor-El didn't integrate Brainiac into the organic shell. It required modification to the program. The true consideration was years before, he had designed Brainiac's function.

Zor-El knew what Brainiac could be and he narrowed that scope because it could only lead ruin to advance the programming to its natural conclusion, but Jor-El removed the limitations on Brainiac. His brother was a fool. And he was one as well for not monitoring the situation. The High Council were fools on general principle and the populace were fools for trusting them.

Chloe caressed Brainiac's hair. It was real and not synthetic. For a moment, she saw Brainiac as Zor-El saw the machine: a dark-haired Kryptonian that could be a brother in the House of El. He was beautiful in the way that Clark was, in the way that Zor-El and Jor-El were. Zor-El couldn't possibly understand that he was looking into the face of the thing that would destroy Krypton.

She wanted to infer some kind of deep and troubling psychological meaning in this new knowledge, but the only thing she could come up with was the fact that Jor-El was working with an ego and pride on a level that could not really be placed into the context of anything she knew.

"I'm sorry, brother."

Chloe couldn't tell if he was directing his softly spoken words to Brainiac or to Jor-El, but it didn't really matter. Zor-El was in just as deep as Jor-El; and even though his motivations were coming from a different place, it ended where Jor-El led. Zor-El turned away from Brainiac and shutdown Brainiac and all other machinery in the room. They were cast in darkness. There were no blinking lights or any whirring machine sounds. Chloe only perceived the still air, her own ragged breathing, and the dryness of her throat.

* * *

It was only fitting that Zor-El would leave for his hydroponics lab where his beloved nura flower grew. And it was only inevitable that she only had a moment of peace before Jor-El burst into the room, breathing metaphorical fire. His aggression was almost a tangible force that pressed against her, but oddly enough, Zor-El remained calm. He was singularly unmoved and distinctly unconcerned with Jor-El. It was more of an irritation than any other emotion. For Chloe, it was rather bizarre given Zor-El's earlier intense disappointment and their other encounter.

Jor-El/Clark once again stood a few feet away from Zor-El/Chloe and seemed to be waiting for acknowledgement. It struck Chloe anew how much of Clark's behavior she saw in Jor-El's. It was tempting to list this into the nature column, but these behaviors were easily the product of entitlement and nature. Clark was destined for greatness and Jonathan and Martha knew it. They _knew_it. And it didn't hurt that he could legitimately think he was special due to his abilities. Clearly, Jor-El was some kind of golden boy and it was reinforced through past experience. Even now Chloe had a certain intuition: Clark would break his silence in the next moment.

His yell invaded the room. "What is this, Zor-El!"

Chloe chuckled softly and kept tending his nura flower, but did not answer. He would make Jor-El reach his breaking point. She knew her way around Clark's emotions, his mind, and she would walk that path and kick every stone. There was a moment of dissonance as Chloe felt herself emerge again. It was becoming harder and harder to not insert her own mind and identity into this dream or hallucination or whatever was happening.

"You think this is funny? You think you can just…do as you please? This is my work! MINE!"

After the outburst, Clark seemed to calm. For the first time in his life, he would be humble and he would plead, "This is my legacy, brother. Surely you can understand how important this is? This can change the face of Krypton itself."

Zor-El rolled his eyes; forever the play actor, even in sincerity. Chloe turned from her work and looked at her brother. If it had not been apparent that Jor-El was angry by his yelling, then his appearance certainly confirmed the notion. He looked to have thrown on his clothes with little care for appearance, which was a rarity for his tidy brother.

Zor-El would be calm. He would not let his brother move him to anger as easily as he had manipulated Jor-El. This conversation would be hard enough.

"I suppose you don't care why I audited the project. I suppose you don't want those answers. Only for me to change the color of the sky and rearrange valleys to your pleasure," Zor-El gestured absently and circled Jor-El, "You've changed the programming in violation of the charter the Ministry gave you. That, brother, is illegal. You should've filed the appropriate paperwork."

Clark clenched his fists. "You've always been jealous, Zor-El. Watching me. Inserting yourself into _my_life! I've worked on this project and on the eve of completion you let your ego get in the way of progress."

He grunted and covered his face with his hands. Jor-El would never understand and he would waste no more words on the matter. "Regardless. The audit has commenced. The project will resume once all proper protocols are observed. If you're lucky and you cooperate, the project will resume in a year, two at the most. Take the time to learn the lesson."

Zor-El turned his back on his brother, which he knew would end poorly but he did it to prove a point: Jor-El was inconsequential. He felt himself whirled around and the blunt force of Jor-El's fist in his face. To his everlasting credit, Jor-El seemed to be confused and regretful of his violent action, but it was too late. Some acts, once committed, cannot be brushed aside and too many of Clark's actions had been brushed aside. After a moment where it seemed that Jor-El was going to apologize, Zor-El charged.

His brother forgot that he had been a member of Krypton's Mining Force. He'd been to the edge of their space mining asteroid fields and facing pirates. Zor-El had trained with the Space Defense Ministry. Clark/Jor-El may have had a size advantage in that he was bulkier, but Chloe/Zor-El knew how to fight. Zor-El knew how to use his height advantage even though he was slim. And he/she would use that superior knowledge to remind Jor-El/Clark of his place.

It was a bloody fight and most of the blood was Jor-El's. When Zor-El finally came to himself, Chloe saw that Jor-El was on the ground and Zor-El was standing over him repeatedly kicking him. She kneeled and gently caressed Clark's face.

"You forget yourself, brother, and so do I. I am the Greater Son of the House of El, the Second Minister of the Science Complex, and Commander in the Mining Force. You are the Lesser Son of the House of El and an Adjunct to the Mechanics Sub-division of the Science Complex. This ends, Jor-El. We begin again or we end."

Jor-El nodded slightly. Something passed between the brothers and it seemed like it had been reconciliation.

Of course, Chloe knew for a fact that this moment changed nothing. Krypton was still destroyed and it was still Brainiac that did it and Zod was probably the catalyst.

The ghost figure of Brainiac/Gabriel shimmered into her view, "That's a lie, Chloe, and you know it."

Chloe could no longer hear Jor-El's labored breathing nor feel the sensations of Zor-El. She could only stare in shocked horror that this…phantasm…came to her. _"A hallucination within a hallucination?"_

Once again the stillness of the hydroponics room was broken by the entrance of security. Chloe didn't know why they had arrived, but Jor-El looked to be in desperate need of medical attention.

Zor-El stood with weary resignation and addressed the stunned security guards. He got his bearings and mustered his resolve, "Take him to the medic and see him to Observation. He is not to go home until I approve it. Understood?"

"But, sir-,"

Zor-El interrupted the guard before he could finish his sentence. "What is your name and house, guardsman?"

The guard cleared his throat before he answered, "Morrell of the House of Tarras."

"Well, Morell of Tarras, you are relieved of duty and your grade removed," Zor-El turned to the other men, "You have your orders."

The guards passed Zor-El and carried Jor-El from his hydroponics laboratory. He left soon after.

* * *

Zor-El didn't go home. He needed solitude and his wife and baby daughter would not allow the peace he needed. It was their right as his family to demand his time, but he could not be what they needed just yet. So it was a matter of inevitability that his time would be intruded upon by the last person he could possibly want to see. Chloe thought that Zor-El might just be cursed. She knew that she was.

Zod was gloating this time. There seemed to be genuine concern in his voice, in his demeanor. He walked to Zor-El's side and grabbed his shoulder.

"Imagine my surprise, Zor-El, when I hear you strip the grade from a guard after he questioned an order given to him by the Greater Son of the House of El. Imagine my surprise, when I hear that guards where there in the first place because a fight between the brothers of the House of El. Imagine my surprise to know that the Lesser Son of the House of El is to be seen by medics and then sent to Observation. And finally, imagine my surprise when I discover that Brainiac is to be audited on your order," Zod/Lex closed his eyes, "Are you imagining it? Because I think now is the time for answers. Surely we can agree on that."

It astounded Chloe again that she was in the body of a man. She was eye level with Lex, and while Zor-El may have been slim, he was still slightly bulkier than Zod's lithe frame. Zor-El stared at Zod in the eye. Something sparked between them. Chloe realized that it was desire, that these two shared something more than friendship. Zor-El and, by extension, she may have realized that Zod/Lex could never truly transcend his nature, but that didn't mean that there wasn't something there.

Chloe saw the exact moment that Lex/Zod decided to act and she knew it was the same moment that Zor-El had decided. It was a simultaneous thing. Chloe/Zor-El shoved Lex/Zod against the wall and kissed him roughly, while Zod frantically pulled and untied his robes. It seemed as if the moment had barely begun when Zod pushed Zor-El away to separate their bodies.

He licked his lips, smirked, and nodded to himself. "You are never one to indulge yourself and it has been an irredeemably long time, Zor-El. Maybe a bit slower."

A game. Slick words and arrogance. Zod wanted this on his terms, but Zor-El was not going to play. Zor-El/Chloe grabbed Zod/Lex's hand, drew his body against their's, and restrained Zod's hands behind his back. Zod merely quirked an eyebrow. It was a taunt. Zod wanted to know how far, he'd go. Chloe quickly let him go, turned him around, and pushed Lex face first into the wall they had occupied moments before. Zod's hands braced against the wall to prevent impact. Zor-El tightly wedged his body against Zod's to prevent him from maneuvering into a different position. He wrapped his hands around Zod's neck and forced his chin up and back.

Zor-El used his other hand to stroke Zod to arousal, while applying slight pressure to his neck. The sensation of having an erection was both mortifying and exciting. Zor-El's rush was her own. His desire was her own. Zor-El bit Zod's neck and pressed his lips to Zod's ear, with every word he gave a gentle nip, "No. My speed. My terms. My way. Or not at all."

Zor-EL held their position for a moment more, both of them coiled and primed. They would have a manic energy. He abruptly released Zod and walked towards his personal quarters without looking back. Zod would join him for it was in his nature to not deny himself; he had no control despite the fact that it was the one thing he desired most. In the end, as with Clark/Jor-El, Chloe/Zor-El knew her way around Lex/Zod's emotions, his mind, and she/he would walk that path and kick every stone.


	9. Chapter 9

AN: Sorry it's been so long! On the bright side, you are totes receiving updates from Dr. Avalanche now! Here's to an end to graduate school!

AN2: Amanda Waller will never be Pam Grier, though I love Pam Grier with a love that rivals the depths of Galactus' hunger. Amanda Waller is, and will remain, the Amanda Waller of the comic books.

Disclaimer: Mine, it is not.

**Chapter 7**

If there was anything that Chloe, Lex, Clark, and Oliver had in common in that particular moment across multiple locations, it was their stunned silence. Gabe knew it to be true as surely as he knew the sky was blue. There was practically no other way any of them could feel at the unfolding events. Of course, the cause of their consternation was wildly different, but the reason for it could be traced to him and he knew it and reveled in it. It would shake them. In this moment in time, that was all Gabe wanted, for them to awaken to a new reality that would define them the way that he wanted them defined. Maybe then they would break from their patterns and make something new. Gabe snorted to himself. He doubted it. _"Rise to this challenge, Chloe."_

"Uncle Gabe!"

Lois' yelled call for him snapped Gabe from his musings. He smiled fondly to himself. Lois was dear to his heart; and one day all that burning energy that threatened to consume her would be channeled into a radiant ball of fire that burned away lies and revealed the truth. She was truly impressive. _"But we all go through the growing pains and awkwardness of the business of growing up. Soon, your time will come to break away from all this."_

As much as Chloe yearned for what Lois was, she couldn't be that way. She was destined for other, greater things. Gabe wondered idly if Chloe would still be able to use Lois after her transformation. He grinned to himself. It was such a stupid question. Of course Chloe would. The only question was if she would do it with mercy and kindness. _"Oh, my light! You will be so great!"_

"Lois! I'm in the den with Chloe's nurse!"

Chloe would be leaving the hospital in two days to begin a more stringent physical therapy regiment so he and her personal physical therapist, Joey Scott, was preparing the den. It was an unwelcome reminder of when he and his wife prepared the nursery. They had so many hopes and dreams and never did they think that Chloe would be their only child. They thought they had time to do so many things. The beauty of life was that everyone got to be young and hopeful and then old and content. To take that away from someone was an act of cruelty, but everyone did it to varying degrees and sometimes it was a necessary act to transition one from callow youth to wizened old. At any rate, Gabe knew that Chloe worried over the cost, but his recent activities had left him with considerable money, not to mention the fact that Oliver Queen had set aside a trust for Chloe.

Lois came charging into the room a few moments later and immediately turned on the television. "Have you seen this?"

She was in shocked excitement. Gabe knew what she was excited about, but he glanced at the television anyway. Joey also stopped what he was doing to observe the action on the screen.

Onscreen, a heavy-set, stately black woman stood at a podium, "It was brought to the attention of the United States government that a secret organization was effectively undermining our ability to prosecute threats, both domestic and foreign. Yesterday, charges were brought against Senator Martha Kent in connection with a clandestine operation that was funneling money to oppose a legal, government initiative run by myself and involving multiple other agencies. Further investigation will be brought to bear to ensure that all parties have been rooted out and brought to justice. Let it be known: the United States stands against all terrorism, domestic or foreign. Thank you."

The footage cut away from the press conference as she answered questions to the news anchor. "That was Special Agent Amanda Waller. Senator Martha Kent took over her husband's seat after his untimely death."

The news anchor's voice receded to the background as Lois turned to him. "Can you believe this? Mrs. Kent is just about the nicest person I know. They have to be mistaken, right? I haven't even seen Clark all day!"

Gabe turned his back and rolled his eyes. Lois and her concern for Clark Kent. It was to mock endlessly. He acknowledged to himself that Amanda Waller was an exceedingly impressive woman, someone to give your respect. She would go many places. High places. All he needed to do was give her the resources she needed and she would be perfect.

Joey whistled, "Damn. And I thought Senator Kent was one of the good ones. Just goes to prove that adage power and all. Anyway, Gabe, there are only a few items left and we can do that tomorrow. So I'll leave now and come back tomorrow unless you want to finish everything today."

"Nah, we can finish tomorrow. Go home," Gabe replied as he walked Joey to his car.

When he returned to the den, Lois was in her thinking phase of a situation. She wasn't excited anymore. She was considering the angles, letting her brain take her places. This was Lois at her best. She wasn't good at figuring it all out in one go. Lois was actually good at uninterrupted thinking. She was good at considering the ramifications, but first she had to not be a hot head, which was an odd dichotomy to find in one person. She was strong where Chloe was weak; but given time, both of them would master the skills. Of course, Chloe was progressing quicker and Gabe could only infer that it was due to the fact that Chloe's trials had come by fire.

"So what are we having for lunch?"

Lois must have been deep in thought because she startled at his words. "I was thinking maybe Captain Bill's Burger Barn."

Gabe chuckled. "I have never understood why you and Chloe love that place."

"The burgers are fantastic and it is in a "barn". What is not to love about it?"

Gabe shrugged. "But it can't even commit to fully embracing the alliteration, but ya know what? Fair enough," he paused and changed the subject, "I'm surprised that you haven't tracked down Clark in light of today's events. He might need a friend right about now."

Lois' expression became angry. "Did you know that he and Chloe go into a fight the day he visited her? He hasn't been around much since. And he didn't show up at work today. Besides, it isn't my job to track him down if he doesn't want to be found. He's probably with his mother anyway. I did some checking around and she's in Smallville."

Gabe raised his eyebrows. "Did you hear what they were saying?"

Lois shook her head. "No, their voices were too low, but it sounded intense. I don't think they've spoken since."

There was jealousy in her voice. Chloe and Clark would always be complicated and there was a part of Clark that she would never have. There was resentment there because she just couldn't understand their relationship. The less he thought about Chloe and Oliver's relationship in regards to Lois, the better he would feel about the situation. The two men kept trading off variations of a similar personality type that was really only superficially similar. They did a disservice to themselves and to their objects of affection. He felt a little bad for Lois; and while his primary concern would always be for Chloe, Lois had him too. One of the things he missed most about Chloe's childhood was her relationship with Lois before adolescence changed it. _"And now it will change even more."_

Gabe saw the exact moment that Lois switched gears, resolved to forget it, and be cheerful. "Let's go eat!"

* * *

Waking up to the breaking news that his mother was being charged with obstructing an official U.S. government operation and funneling money to a clandestine operation in opposition to said official U.S. government operation was enough to make Clark Kent panic. There was no way his mother would've kept such information from him if she knew about it, so it had to have been some kind of sudden, trick maneuver.

His gut reaction was that Lex was behind his mother's precipitous downfall. On further thought, however, Clark realized that Lex may have had a long arm and many allies, but his reach wasn't that long, especially in light of current events: both Queen Industries and LuthorCorp were struggling in the markets. Both companies had suffered a dangerous plunge in the stock market. Current Dow projections hadn't been at all kind to either company. Their crisis was spilling over and affecting Wayne Enterprises and other global conglomerates. The problem was that no one could figure out where the trouble was coming. Oliver had explained it to Clark so he could understand the gist of the troubles if not the nuance of the situation.

Between Chloe's accident, Oliver's problems, and by default, the Justice League's uncertainty, Clark was stretched thin. This just added another layer that he had to focus on instead, which meant that everything else had to take a back seat. His mother was more important than any other thing. It was this mindset that Clark rushed to Smallville. Oliver had cautioned him on using his super-speed to reach his mother so he was relegated to using his truck. He thanked Oliver for his caution because his house looked to be surrounded by government agents. Clark's home was under guard and both he and his mother had to be extremely careful.

As Clark carefully walked to his front door, he surveyed the cars and men and women in black suites. Clark felt that he could face anything and mostly that was due to his mother's steadying presence and when times were good, Chloe's unwavering faith in him; but this made him afraid. This was something he might not be able to fix even if he knew the problem. He doubted his mother would even be able to speak to him in their home. It had to be under heavy surveillance.

Martha opened the door and Clark immediately swooped her into a hug. For a moment in time, everything was good, but movement further into his house put lie to the moment.

Clark's eyes searched her face for signs of distress. The concern was evident in his voice, "Are you ok?"

Martha closed her eyes and sighed deeply. She was tired and she had failed. "Yes, I'm fine. I haven't been mistreated."

Clark heard an implied "yet" at the end of her sentence, but he didn't think she meant it. "Let's go for a walk."

A dark-haired, tall woman stepped from the living room. There was a slight sense of menace and distrust around her. "I'm afraid that Senator Kent is under house arrest and may not leave the premises."

He stepped around his mother to place himself between his mother and the agent who spoke to them. Clark gestured outside, "This entire farm is her premises. Are you saying she can't leave the house?"

The agent smiled slightly. From her expression, Clark had the unsettling thought that she knew what he was. "I'm Agent Susan Linden. Your mother can move 50 feet from the house. If she moves beyond 50 feet, she will be immediately transported to minimum security governmental facilities for the duration. If she manages to escape, she will be remitted to a maximum security facility and any who aided and abetted her will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

Agent Linden ended with a knowing look on her face. It was a slight taunt. _"Impossible! How could she know?"_

It was under the watchful eye of Agent Linden that they left his childhood home. He had never been so thankful to leave his home. Clark asked his mother the one question that had been repeating itself over in his mind until he could think about nothing else.

"Mom, what happened?"

His mother sighed again. "We have to be careful, Clark. We don't know what they are doing," at his quizzical look, Martha continued, "They could be lip reading or using technology to hear us. I don't know! They're capable of anything!"

Clark ran his hand through his hair and turned from his mother. He didn't know what to do. He turned to her again when he felt her hands on his shoulders. Her voice was low and her mouth hidden by his bulk.

"They know, Clark. I was trying to protect you and the others, but somehow they found out about it. Agent Waller has been investigating for a few weeks, but she couldn't have the information she has in such a limited time. She has to have help. Could Lex have done this?"

There was no way that Lex was able to out them. If he was interpreting his mother correctly, she knew about the Justice League; but how much beyond that whoever "they" were knew, he didn't know.

He was frustrated. "Lex doesn't know enough to do this. I don't think he could've found out about you. You still haven't explained what you were doing."

Martha's look of annoyance and exasperation was one that he really hadn't ever seen before, at least not directed at him. "I can't go into details. It would be dangerous for me."

Clark nodded. "I'll see what I can do."

The only thing he could do was try to meet Oliver without anyone knowing about it, but Clark didn't really trust that Oliver would be in a place to help. Beyond anything else, one irrefutable fact had repeatedly made itself known over the years: he needed Chloe's help. Clark could only fervently hope that she would be willing and able.

* * *

He was the very picture of calm as he walked brusquely to his office. He gave instructions here and there. He greeted his secretary as he normally did. He walked into his office, carefully closed the blinds to hide his office from view, and turned off his computer. He left his office with poise and dignity. From the time he first came into his office to the last five minutes was spent in a board meeting. When he got home, however, his yell was primal and furious and he flung his brief case at the walls of his mansion. Lex Luthor was home early and there was no part of that that he liked. He would make every last one of those smug bastards pay for inflicting this indignity upon him.

Lex may have inherited LuthorCorp, but the board of directors still had more control than he wanted over the company, at least they would for another year. Lionel was petty until the very end. LexCorp also hung in the balance since he tied it to his father's company. The board had found out about his renewed activities with meteor freaks and from there, the situation snowballed. The chairman of the board was contacted by Amanda Waller herself and that was how the government shut him down hard. They held a no confidence vote and that was how he, Lex Luthor, found himself on involuntary leave from his own company.

"A fucking no confidence vote! On me!"

Lex walked to his bar and poured himself a drink. He would solve this problem. In the meantime, he would continue to harass Oliver Queen. After all, Lex had idle time on his hands. He was about to catch up on the news for the day when his phone rang.

"We need to talk. I sent you an email with the details. Be there."

Before he had a chance to utter a word, he heard the dial tone. Lex knocked back another drink and braced himself. No good could possibly come of this.


	10. Chapter 10

AN: Sorry for the long wait! I hope you enjoy!

**Chapter 8**

It was a weird thing, a _difficult_, thing own up to the reality that you are fundamentally changed and you don't know what that means or what it looks like. Just that you are. The reality of it made everything else a kind of un-reality, something that was bizarre and cruel and unfair. These were the thoughts that crowded Chloe when she wiped the mirror clear of the steam that had condensed on it due to her bracingly hot shower. The image she confronted was different from the one revealed in the hospital the night, the day, that she had awakened from a coma.

Her hair was slightly longer and spiked on its own. Her face was more filled out and had a healthier hue to it. This mirror was larger and she could see the rest of her body. She had a long scar down her chest where the doctors had broken her breast bone to get to her lungs. A scar ran across her abdomen which was the entry point for them to correct her internal injuries. Chloe had lost a kidney and she had part of her father's liver. Despite all of those things, she felt…

"Invigorated. I feel...alive."

And this was true. For the past few days, her physical therapist had carefully and expertly rehabilitated muscles that had been in disuse. He had massaged the aches. But Chloe had the bone deep sense that even without him, she would've been fine. More than fine. She had to fake strain and effort. Everything was coming easier to her. Chloe couldn't understand it and she feared it. She feared what it meant for her. Chloe hadn't tested the limits of her new-found strength and she had no intention of doing it any time soon. But…

A ghostly hand caressed her from the base of her spine to her neck.

_"But you have questions. You want to know. You need to know. It is your curse."_ It was a soft whisper in her ear.

Chloe tilted her head towards the lips that formed those words. She recognized that voice, that gentle touch.

"Zod?"

There was a note of lust and gentle chiding in those uttered words. They were playful words. In the moments where they had loved each other the best, Zod used that voice with Zor-El. It was full of promise. Zod was cultured. He commanded rooms. And from the moment in service in Krypton's mining force, there was something between them. Friendship, rivalry, anger, love were the things that had defined them. Even that was a limited view of them.

_"Zor-El, this world has a yellow sun. Ours was yellow, remember? It was only red because of Krypton. Krypton was special, was it not? Our atmosphere, the nature of our planet, so very different than Earth even if our sun wasn't much different. Remember how special Krypton was?"_

She could see Zod close his eyes from the view of him in the mirror. He was wistful. She saw what drew Faora. He had a boyish quality at times. The sway of his hair. The pursed lips.

Chloe touched the mirror. These feelings were of a time gone by. There were a million remembered touches. The way he moaned when he, Zor-El, kissed that spot behind his ear. Zod positioned himself more fully behind Chloe and encircled her waist with his arms. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Zod's left hand moved until he held her neck in a loose grip and he took her ear between his lips. Chloe opened her eyes and there was Lex.

_"Remember how special Krypton is, Zor-El. Remember the fun we have. We can have this, Zor-El. We can have this for a long time. Just…stay with me."_

But this was a dream. Zod wasn't real. He was a long dead man. And so was Krypton and whatever promise it once held, it was dead. This had been a real moment between Zod and Zor-El. They had been in what would be the Kryptonian version of a summer villa. There was so much light that day. The light red sky was clear and both of them could see what seemed like miles ahead of them.

Chloe shook her head and the ghost sensations that Zod had produced were gone. She was bereft. She shook herself again.

"Krypton wasn't Earth and Kryptonians weren't human. Shards of Krypton caused mutation in humans. Think, Chloe. What's to say that even on Krypton they weren't slightly stronger than humans?"

Could she be closer to what a Kryptonian would be? If so, how was that possible?

Chloe clutched the sink and stared into her own eyes. "This isn't normal. This isn't normal. This isn't normal."

Maybe if she repeated it enough, she could change it. She could _become_ normal. She could prevent it from becoming a new normal. As she muttered to herself, she could be honest at the same time. Only the slightest hint of hysteria betrayed her.

A knock at the restroom door startled her out of her reverie. "Chloe? Are you ok? I know it was hard today, but Joey says you're improving faster than he expected."

Chloe snorted to herself and muttered. "That's the problem."

On the other side of the door, Gabe grabbed his head and dug his fingers into his scalp. He had to be patient. He wasn't patient the last time and everything was ruined. He could be patient this time. _"It has to work this time."_

"Do you need help?"

Chloe looked sharply at the door. There was something in her father's voice, some quality that was both familiar and not. There was something wrong and it was enough to draw her from memories and feelings that weren't her own. She opened the door quickly, which startled Gabe. She could see the strain in his face and many other things. Irritation, hope, expectation, anger, relief passed over his face and finally settled on the smile that she had always found comforting.

They stood in the hallway, staring at each other for longer than was comfortable. There was a resonance and awareness between them that had never existed before and it was in turns frightening and welcome.

Her father was the first to break the stand-off. "You almost died and there was nothing I could do about it. I had to watch you lying still in a cold, sterile hospital room. I would've had put you in a coffin, to pack you away, and content myself with visiting a grave for the rest of my life. To tell myself that you were still here and remember the good times," his voice broke and he took her hand and placed it above his heart. "Memories are never enough, Chloe, no matter whatever platitudes well-meaning people spew from their perch of asinine wisdom."

Chloe was shamed. Whatever else was going on that needed her attention now, her father was still the best of the things in her life and she had wronged him by not trying to understand his grief. In the face of such unabashed honesty and regret and relief, she could do no more than let him hug her.

"This isn't about your mother, Chloe. This isn't me clinging to you because I have faced the thought of being alone before. You are my daughter and the best part of me."

The moment was broken when they both heard her cellphone ringing from her room. Gabe released her and walked towards the kitchen. He called over his shoulder, "It's probably Oliver. I've been blowing him off on your behalf for the past few days."

Chloe continued to watch him trek to the kitchen until he was out of sight and her phone stopped ringing. There it was again: the moment when her father was no longer her father. After Chloe reached her room, she saw that Oliver had called and she did the only thing that she could do, which was return his call. She needed to get to work and that meant re-engaging Oliver.

Twenty minutes later found Chloe cruising in Oliver's car, headed towards Watchtower. They were both silent on the drive, save for a few halting sentences about how the other was doing. At a glance, Chloe could tell that Oliver was stressed. His hair was slightly mussed and there seemed to be a slight frown that never really left his face. He kept glancing at her out of the corner of his eye; there were a million and one questions that she couldn't and didn't want to answer.

She wasn't actually surprised when a chill raised her hairs on her arms. It even made her scalp tingle. Chloe glanced into the rear view mirror and was not surprised to see Green Arrow. What did startle her was the differences in appearance, even from the last "Errol Flynn" Green Arrow. His hair was short and there was a five o'clock shadow present on his jaw line. He wore green and she could see the outline of a bow and arrow. His face was harder and the edge of WASP-y aristocracy was all but gone. There was an air of grief and darkness about him. This was an Oliver who had never even taken solace in his business, who had felt desperation in his bones and would never shake that feeling. There was the hint of murder in his eyes. This was a man who had never truly left his island prison, a man of vengeance.

_"Eyes forward, Chloe. He might think something is wrong."_

Oliver's brow furrowed. "Are you ok, Chloe?"

_"Yes, Chloe. Are you ok?"_

It was _déjà vu_. She'd had this conversation before with Errol Flynn Green Arrow.

"Not really. This short hair makes my scalp tingle at the oddest of times," she forced the words out even as she knew that they would ring false to Oliver. They were acting now and going through the motions.

It was with profound relief when she finally exited the car and wasn't in close quarters with versions of a man she thought she loved. Chloe sighed with relief when she crossed the threshold into the apartment. New Other Green Arrow glided toward a desk.

"Chloe, I am really worried about you."

She sighed, "I know. It's just so weird, ya know? Nothing is the same and I don't know if it's just me or if things have actually changed."

Oliver grunted in agreement. "The only experience I have is when I came back from the island."

_"My time was rougher than his. I could only feel hatred, Chloe. An unrelenting hatred. I realized that nothing had actually changed, but me. And then I realized that wasn't true. Everything had changed and I had changed, but we didn't change together. That was the problem."_

Oliver smiled slightly and it transformed his face into something beautiful. "We don't expect anything from you, but I know you're bored. If you want, you can always digitize and organize my company's holdings."

Green Arrow's voice sounded from somewhere in the apartment,_"Ouch! Such a manipulative ass. A ploy, Chloe, to get you to do the dirty work. Or maybe it is to draw you out,"_ He walked into her view to a table that held various files flash drives, _"You will want to check this."_

He slammed his hand down onto a pile of folders.

Chloe focused on Oliver and rolled her eyes. She had to act out her role now. "Nah, I just want to relax without the prying eyes of my dad. I haven't had any privacy these last few weeks."

Oliver raised his hands in knowing defeat. "I know, I know. You know where everything is. Try not to break anything," he winked at her and left the apartment. They were themselves again and it was a much needed respite from the uncertainty.

Chloe ran to Green Arrow and he disbursed in a flash of dark green and the smell of an island forest. She read the files and could see the trouble Queen Industries, Wayne Enterprises, and Luthorcorp and other conglomerates faced. There was too much order here. She had seen this before, which she already knew since she had the same revelation in the hospital; but it was more prominent.

_"Remember how special Krypton was?"_

"Jesus Christ! This is Brainiac's Protocal!"

Dark Thursday was caused by a virus that had been a pale imitation of Brainiac's Protocal which was set in motion by the spirit that called itself Zod. But that Zod wasn't real, just remnants of the man in the Phantom Zone. It was Zod stripped of all of his charisma and brilliant mind. That was also a ploy by Brainiac. Krypton was destroyed partly by its resistance to order, but mostly because Brainiac was an uncaring, unfeeling machine that wanted to start from scratch. What was happening now was a precursor to the kind of order Brainiac had sought to impose on Krypton.

If Krypton, with all its advancement, couldn't stop Brainiac and the forces that unleashed him, then how could Earth? Clark was out of commission, Lex was so far down the rabbit hole that he couldn't _see_, and Oliver just didn't have the ability to help her.

Using the expense card Oliver had given her, she purchased new computer parts. Watchtower was not advanced enough to do what she needed to do. She had to start with a blank slate so that she could incorporate Krypton.

She had no time to waste. Chloe had to get to work and quickly. To be perfectly honest, Chloe only had one question. She probably should've had more, but there was really only one.

_"How?"_


	11. Chapter 11

AN: ENJOY!

Disclaimer: not mine

**Chapter 9**

Lex walked into the restaurant and to his absolute non-surprise saw that his party was already present. He quickly scanned the restaurant and saw other agents. He grunted to himself.

_"So this is to be an ambush. They actually do think to intimidate me."_

He sat down across from Amanda Waller and motioned for the waiter. Lex resented the fact that he was summoned and that he had no control over the situation.

"Tell me, Waller, is this on the government tab? Or are you forcing me to pay for this meal? Shouldn't you be out prosecuting an actual criminal? Perhaps Martha Kent?"

Lex could admit to himself that he felt a blazing charisma from Agent Waller. She had this aura about her that discouraged anyone from being stupid in her presence. Amanda Waller was a formidable woman.

"I'll be picking up the tab, Mr. Luthor. This is a business meeting after all."

He leaned back into his chair. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this business meeting?"

"We know your activities. We know about the meteor rocks. We also know that you have been temporarily ousted as the CEO. You'll get your position back, but it will take time and there are those who require that you get your position back sooner rather than later."

The waiter returned with salads and water for them both.

"Oh, I've ordered for us. I don't particularly want this to take more time than necessary either."

The anger over her daring to order for him was pushed aside in favor of her words.

"You're one of those people I suppose. What does it matter—"

Waller interrupted him, "If you want to avoid being subject to the Patriot Act, you will release all your research on the meteor rocks and transfer the affected to government care. It is clear that you are unable to control this part of your business. It is disruptive to the rule of law."

Lex tried to speak over her, but she merely bulldozed over him in a way that had never been successful, "You will resume your position as Luthorcorp's CEO next week to facilitate the process. After that, our business will be complete."

Waller abruptly stood and leaned over him, "I will always have my eye on you, Mr. Luthor. Mind your business, keep it in order, and do not make me come for you."

With that she left the restaurant; and a few minutes later, so did six agents. Lex leaned forward and steepled his hands. He would need to tread very carefully. There were things that she did not know. He simply needed to be that much more careful.

Lex finished his salad and waited for the entrée. He wouldn't waste a perfectly good meal.

* * *

Chloe was preparing to go to bed. She was exhausted, but she had done that on purpose. Her day had been spent reading the news, following Wall Street, and hanging out a hacker conspiracy sites. If anyone had some insight to the craziness she was seeing it would be conspiracy theorists. There wasn't always something to be found, but Chloe was positive that some crazy hacker specifically looking for anomalies would have posted something, somewhere. It was only a matter of writing a program to search the internet for her.

She was proven right and so followed the link spiral to weed out the improbable with her memories of Brainiac's Protocol. It was hard, but since she had her own Wall of Weird and conspiracy theories she recognized them as her people. Some of them had no idea how correct they were. Most just couldn't articulate or follow the implications because Brainiac was a super advanced artificial intelligence and even his creators had issues with him.

_"Him? Since when did I begin to think of Brainiac as a person and not a machine?"_

It was probably because Zor-El had never thought of Brainiac as merely a machine. Brainiac was beyond such designations. He was a thinking force of nature, a font of endless possibilities. At the end, every Kryptonian had to realize that singular fact.

Sleep was the thing she needed. She needed eight, maybe twelve, hours of darkness where she didn't have to think and she wasn't trapped in the memories of Zor-El. In addition to the fact that she felt emotionally exhausted after each encounter, it was changing her. It wasn't becoming harder to separate where she began and Zor-El ended, but she felt like she was becoming less human and more Kryptonian. Chloe didn't really understand what that meant, but she felt it was true deep in her bones and she didn't think she had the reserves to deal with it.

Of course, her new normal did not include any kind of respite from the weirdness, which is why she was not surprised when she didn't get her darkness or rest.

The dream seemed to have begun in the middle. Chloe was playing with a small child. The girl's giggles pierced the air and Zor-El felt a lightness that had eluded him for the past few weeks. This was happiness: a trusting face looking at him with love and only the expectation that came with the carelessness and selfishness of childhood.

"How is my daughter today? Is Kara Zor-El having a good day?"

She laughed happily in response.

"Of course my daughter is having a good day! Father is fun like a hurko!"

Zor-El's memory supplied the four-legged, goofy looking beast that he referred. It had large feet with six long toes that allowed it to disperse its weight so it could walk on the semi-liquid surfaces in Krypton's marshes. They made exceptional pets.

Chloe gently tossed Kara in the air. It was her favorite. When Kara landed, Chloe/Zor-El blew on her belly.

"Father will take you flying later."

An amused voice called from behind him. "Then Father will become a flying hurko will he not?"

Kara squirmed from his lap and ran, giggling, towards her mother.

"Sorry to end your time, but it's time for this daughter of a hurko to bathe."

Chloe watched as her wife handed their daughter over to her caretaker. Both of them waited until Kara and her caretaker left the room. His wife was going to give him a much deserved lecture on avoidance. He had been deeply unfair to them both. The worst part is that Zor-El knew his behavior was wrong but he was selfish and didn't confront the problem.

The dream, as disconcerting as any of the other dreams of Krypton, had been pleasant. There were good feelings. She had been enjoying this dream. The attendant dread that permeated the other dreams were absent in this one. It represented something that was simple and the emotions she had been feeling through Zor-El were all so very human. They were things she could understand.

Fortified with Zor-El's contentment and happiness, Chloe was singularly unprepared when Zor-El's wife turned towards her and revealed the face of Oliver. Chloe had suffered through these dreams and she had fought through them; and when she awakened, she always felt weird and discombobulated. Despite all that, she could get through the dreams. But this time her mind rebelled. Her entire being rebelled. And that's when everything went weird. Time and space meant nothing. Her consciousness awoke in different places and she felt fractured and flayed alive.

She remained in the dream looking at her wife, Alura In-Ze, who smiled at him in amusement and kinship. He awoke to her bed in the darkness with pain grasping at her. Chloe/Zor-El stood in a field of green under a graying sky, the wind tousling their hair and a clamor of voices drifting to her ears.

Chloe lurched back into the dream and felt the warm embrace of her wife. Zor-El could not look at her.

"I know the troubles that have been brought upon you and our House," her voice firm, but he felt her love for him keenly and she forced him to look at her, "I also know that there are things that you cannot speak of to me because that is not who you are. Zor-El. My husband. I [i]know[/i] you."

Alura/Oliver was shorter than he was and Chloe was keenly aware of that fact. He dropped to her knees.

His voice was muffled by her belly. "I am unworthy to have the favored daughter of the House of Ze offer me such love and wise counsel. You have strengthened my House beyond me."

Oliver ran his fingers through her hair and kissed the crown of his head.

"You can confide in me. Am I not your other half? Are my hands not to be put to use? Should my voice be not a trumpet for our House?"

"My love, I fear that I have failed Krypton. Brainiac is more than I thought possible. The Council and Jor-El encourage this. Jor-El has become a man that I do not know. The boy whose endless curiosity was to be nurtured has become unmoored to reason. He has chosen a path that I cannot follow. I no longer know him. Whatever fears of failure that I have for Krypton, it is orders of magnitude above that which I feel for my brother. To allow this to continue is to betray even myself."

There was a beat of silence between them. Alura's voice was hesitant.

"You have a plan."

Chloe/Zor-El nodded.

Alura gripped Zor-El and pulled him to his feet. "Then see it to completion. You have said that Brainiac will not be fully operational for at least ten years. With the other concerns regarding our planet's core and mining, it is yet possible that the High Council will be distracted. Jor-El will be tamed or not, but allowing him to be who he is at the expense of the greater good is not an option. You cannot make it one."

"I will hurt many people, Alura."

Oliver smiled softly at Chloe. "And even more would come to tragic end without you. Of this I have no doubt. You are a good man, Zor-El. Never forget that _I_, above all others, know you. You cannot hide from me, no matter how hard you try."

Chloe smiled in return. "The strength and wisdom of the House of El resides within Alura In-Ze."

Alura had the last words, as she often did, and he never really minded. Alura/Oliver commanded Zor-El/Chloe, "See your plan to completion and do not waver, my husband!"

Chloe awoke to the darkness of her room. Her face was wet as if she had been crying. She felt intense pain. Her head pounded as if she had been banging it against the wall for hours. A loud noise sounded within her head. It was like a cannonball had been fired mere inches from her ear. A blinding white light originated from behind her eyes. She scrambled from her bed and stumbled onto the floor.

The smell of blood was in the air. She rose to her knees and touched her face and ears. Her hands came away sticky and she knew that the course of the blood was her eyes, nose, and ears. Chloe tipped forward and used one hand to brace her body off the floor. Her other, bloody, hand reached for the door. Chloe tried to call out for her father, but no there was no sound.

The little strength she was expending to keep from falling over was too taxing. Chloe vomited onto the floor and she collapsed. The last thing she perceived before darkness claimed her was the door of her bedroom opening and her father falling to his knees to cradle her body. The ensuing darkness had a known quality. It felt like Zor-El, but the presence of her father overwhelmed anything else. He snapped into sharp relief against the darkness. It was only slightly menacing, which was more than she hoped for at this point.


	12. Chapter 12

**AN:** Sorry it's been so long! Hope you enjoy.

**Disclaimer: **Not mine.

**Chapter 10**

Chloe lay in bed after her father had taken her to the emergency room.

She sighed, "Hating hospitals has never been so easy."

It was even easier since she felt better. The fire that had burned her from the inside out had long since vanished. Her doctors wanted to keep her over night, which she disagreed with, but her father was all for. The awareness that existed between them had muted a little bit. That connection made her suspicious. Her father hadn't been himself since she had awakened for her coma. Chloe could give him the benefit of the doubt; she could trust him to a point. That point had been reached and she had to become more active.

The parts she needed to build a new and better computer would arrive shortly, but that was never a real worry. The real worry was that Lex Luthor had something she wanted, no, something she needed and he wouldn't cooperate without a threat or a promise. She snorted to herself. That son of a bitch would need a boot to the neck before he voluntarily gave her what she needed. Chloe's eyes narrowed. It wouldn't be a problem.

Chloe glanced over to the nightstand. Her phone was there and she dialed familiar numbers.  
Lex heard and felt his phone ringing. It was a shock, to say the least, when he saw the number that dialed him.

He would be smooth. "Chloe! To what do I owe this extreme and gratifying pleasure?"

"Don't overdo it. I want to meet with you. I hear Luthorcorp is having some problems, specifically, a you problem. Being ousted as CEO of your own company? Tsk. Tsk. Wait. Wait. Not your own company. A gift. A reluctant gift from your dead father."

Lex clutched his phone. Chloe had gotten personal far quicker than he had anticipated and she had drawn first blood.

"I won't come to your hospital bed, Chloe. Still having trouble? Maybe I could send some of my own researchers. To really dig in there and see the problem."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Yes, Lex, I get it. You have the power of life and death. Your creeper researchers can come at any time and do tests and meteor rocks and obsession and blah blah. I want to meet with you. Name a public place at peak time and I will be there. That's it. No need to be difficult."

She didn't fear him anymore. She didn't desire him anymore. That last part was a small lie. She did desire him, whatever part of him that was Zod and the Lex she had known. But there was another who consumed her thoughts. The dreams were giving her something and she wanted to push it away, but she also wanted to embrace it. Some part of her wanted to embrace it.

The throbbing began in his head and it was relentless. It heralded a more painful migraine later, probably. He couldn't deny, however, that he was more than curious. He might as well know what she wanted. There was the possibility that he could leverage it into something to his benefit. Lex could give her this so he did and was rewarded with a quick "good-bye" and a dial tone.  
Chloe put the phone to her forehead and took a deep breath. Things just got real. She dropped her phone back onto the nightstand and reclined on her bed. She felt like crying and screaming; and she wanted nothing more than to be with her father in this moment. But she couldn't trust him anymore.

"Dad, what are we going to do now?"

* * *

After dealing with Chloe, he had to leave. Leave his house and everything that had been familiar for the past few years. It didn't take him long before he collapsed. He was exhausted, mentally and physically exhausted. After all this time, all this effort, things seemed to be working out the way he had envisioned. Had there ever been a time when this wasn't his reality? When time and space conformed to expectation? When he had been…normal? The contradiction was this life that he lived a life that seemed to have been a short time in the making, but maybe it was a long time in the making. He didn't really know any more and didn't even think that it mattered. This was it. This was all there would ever be. And he had made that choice. That single choice that doomed a world it seemed.

A few of his neighbors ran to help him. It was only then that he noticed the blood trickling from his ears and eyes. His efforts were taking a toll. Hands helped him rise to his feet.

"Are you well?"

He looked into the concerned eyes of his friend and smiled gently. "Yes. I'm fine. I'm fine. I just need to take a break. Progress has been in turns slow, frustrating, and heartening. I just…I just need rest."

He limped to his home. He just needed rest. Success was so close. One more push. Two more. A hundred more. The only thing that mattered was success. He couldn't bear to fail again, but that wasn't exactly true was it? He had succeeded. But he couldn't fail this time. He couldn't fail her. Not her, the bearer of all he was and all the world could be.

"I only need a day of rest. Just a day."

* * *

Special Agent Amanda Waller loved puzzles. They were her life. Lately, the puzzle that was Clark Kent, Lex Luthor, and Chloe Sullivan, code-named Tripod, had been on her mind non-stop. Waller had been circling them and gently pulling loose every thread that led to them: Martha Kent, Lionel Luthor, and Gabriel Sullivan. Of course, there had been even more peripheral characters in Kara Kent, Oliver Queen, and Lois Lane. Those were threads that bound the central figures of this piece.

Kara Kent was an enigma and she had been revealed in various Luthor records. The others in that peripheral orbit had been revealed in time. There hadn't been much to Gabriel Sullivan, but she had learned much about and from Martha Kent and Lionel Luthor. From all of them she had learned how to take the measure of Clark Kent and Lex Luthor. They were now known entities and Waller understood that she'd have to maintain constant watch. They were a danger and from this day forward, she would not underestimate them again.

_But…_

Chloe Sullivan had proven odd. She was a central figure, at various times, behind Kent, Luthor, and Queen. But now? Her imprint was nowhere to be seen. Waller had seen her Wall of Weird, her theories, and some of her actions in the past; but Chloe Sullivan was laying low. It seemed out of character. So, Waller had put her prodigious talents and the resources of her organization to use. She needed to reveal Chloe Sullivan and figure out her place in the tripod.

_"Where are you now, Chloe Sullivan?_

She looked over at her own whiteboard that showed their connections to each other. She refused to believe that the current troubles in Big Industry were due to economic events. No, something else was happening. The chaos hadn't become unmanageable yet, but something huge and destructive was simmering beneath the surface and only Chloe Sullivan was unaccounted for. Maybe she was barking up the wrong tree. Maybe Chloe Sullivan, this one time, had nothing to do with the drama surrounding Kent or Luthor.

Amanda Waller couldn't believe that. She couldn't believe that Chloe Sullivan's sudden car accident and subsequent recovery had nothing to do with Lex Luthor or Clark Kent. She couldn't believe that, after all this time, neither Oliver Queen nor Clark Kent were going to their resident computer and investigation expert. It was possible but exceedingly unlikely. All of them had been entwined for so long that to separate one of them from the others was a fool's goal, but the persistent doubt plagued her. She simply couldn't find anything to tie Chloe Sullivan to anything.  
A knock on her door interrupted her.

"Come in," she called tersely.

"Ma'am, as per your request, we have put surveillance teams on Miss Sullivan. One team saw what appeared to be another surveillance team, however, that entity soon ended their efforts. Activities resumed and we discovered this."

The agent handed her a thick folder and a flash drive.

"The first ten pages summarize the report and the flash drive contains video footage."

"Thank you, Agent. You are dismissed."

Agent Waller barely took note of the agent's departure. She would not have been disturbed if her surveillance team hadn't found something interesting.

An hour later, Agent Waller found what she had been looking for. She picked up her phone.

"Secretary, step up surveillance of Miss Sullivan. Begin tracking her internet and phone activity."

She laughed harshly. "There. There you are Miss Sullivan."

* * *

Oliver Queen held his head in his hands. His conversation with Lucius Fox and then Bruce Wayne had not been promising. The current crisis was affecting industry but not enough to throw everyone into panic. Not yet. But everyone he had spoken to had projections that indicated things had the potential to degenerate into madness. Fleeting moment with Chloe gave him the impression that she knew more, but she had been avoiding them all.

He had noticed the significant dip into the monetary account he had set-up for Watchtower. She had disguised what exactly was being purchased, which made his red alert meter rocket off the scale. He was choosing to trust her, but that trust could only go so far before he had to question her. All of this started with Chloe's accident. He was angry and confused and hurt that now was the time that Chloe chose to withdraw from them.

Oliver banged his hand onto the desk. "Dammit!"

Picking up the phone, Oliver dialed Clark. They needed to talk.

As expected, Clark literally arrived at his apartment in Star City in minutes.

Clark looked flustered and stressed. Oliver didn't blame him. Martha's ethical woes were becoming increasingly more serious; and if she made it out of this without seeing jail time, then it would be a miracle. Even the Kent farm was in jeopardy. All Kent assets had been frozen and they had lost the respect and esteem from Smallville.

Their neighbors felt deep betrayal. Martha Kent was supposed to be different. She was supposed to be beyond reproach. A lifetime of experience had given them the confidence to finally believe that Smallville could thrive again while maintaining its character. Now, all of that was called into question. Whatever projected hope that had been foisted onto the Kent name now slid off into the mud at their feet.

Oliver held out his hand and Clark grasped it, almost desperately. Clark smiled wanly and let go.

"What's the trouble, Oliver?"

Clark appreciated the tone of friendship and empathy.

"Before we get into that, is there anything I can do for you…or Mrs. Kent?"

Oliver saw Clark's face drop just a little more. "Unless you can somehow prove that my mother's being framed or anything else, no. I believe her when she says she did it to protect me, but…how far can I expect her to go? Or anyone? I can't let my friends sacrifice their lives for me. It's a burden I can't carry. You can help by just being my friend. I have to do this alone. It's enough that you asked and that you're here for me."

Oliver clasped Clark's shoulder while the other man took a moment to gather himself.

Oliver turned away from him and picked up a file folder to hand to Clark. Clark quickly scanned the papers.

"Chloe did this?"

Oliver nodded.

"And now you think that maybe she is involved with whatever's happening to Queen Industries," it wasn't really a question.

"Yeah. Too much has happened after her accident. Lex was quickly neutralized. You were also taken out of the equation with the situation with your mother—"

Clark interrupted him, "And your company is in enough distress to take away your focus but not enough to crash anything."

The "yet" hung in the space between them.

Oliver blew out his breath, "We have to trust her. I know this, but…we also can't ignore that she's withdrawn from us. And now this? We can't ignore it, right? You know her, Clark. You have this connection with her that I don't. What do you think?"

"We trust Chloe until she proves that we can't trust her. But…I can talk to her. Maybe follow her? I'm just not every comfortable with doing that to her. She wouldn't do anything to hurt us. Ever since high school, Chloe has been so careful. So—"

It was Oliver's turn to interrupt Clark, "We trust her."

Oliver turned towards the other folder on his desk and then met Clark's eyes.

"We trust her."


End file.
